Framatome Awarded SFEN Prize For Technological Innovation

The CRIL, the Framatome (ENS Corporate Member) CERCA Research and Innovation Laboratory received the SFEN Prize for Technological Innovation for the world’s first uranium-molybdenum and uranium-silicon objects using 3D printing technology.

This innovation enables the development and production of uranium metal fuel plates for research reactors and irradiation targets for medical isotopes widely used by hospitals for cancer diagnosis and treatments.

The CRIL’s research projects include the production of fuels in metal alloys such as UAI, U3Si2, UMo, UZr based on HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium). Other forms of uranium are also being explored, such as oxides or TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic) particles for new advanced reactor concepts such as high-temperature reactors, SFR reactors (Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor), and micro-reactors.

The CRIL is a member of the HERACLES consortium, together with CEA, SCK-CEN (ENS Corporate Member), Institute Laue-Langevin, and the Technical University of Munich.

The objective of HERACLES is to contribute to the development of dense fuels based on the HALEU via various projects relating to manufacturing, irradiation and post-irradiation examinations.

The award ceremony took place in June, during the SFEN (Société Française d’Énergie Nucléaire, ENS Member Society) conference.

Read the full Framatome Press Release.