b'ATF Industry Teams - FramatomePrincipal Investigator: Kiran NimishakaviTeam Members/ Collaborators: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL),Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Kernkraftwerk Gsgen-Dniken. Entergy Nuclear, Exelon Nuclear.Figure 1. Green chromium variant ATF pelletsbefore sintering.Framatomes projectF ramatome is continuing signifi- reduce outage costs by reducing the cant research and developmentnumber of refueling outages while objective is to maximizeefforts to develop accidentsimultaneously defining appropriate plant safety by providingtolerant fuel technologies. It relies onlicensing limits for burnup.evolutionary fuela two-phased approach enabling theProject Description:technologies in thebalancing of benefits with the speed toThe ultimate goal of Department of near term that addsmarket. The first phase consists of nearEnergy (DOEs) Enhanced Accident margin to a number ofterm evolutionary solutions whichTolerant Fuel (EATF) program is to fuel performance areasare focused on improving safety anddevelop an economical and more while also developingfuel cycle economics while beingrobust nuclear fuel design that will a longer-termcompliant with insertion of batchesreduce or mitigate the consequences revolutionary solution. by 2025. The second phase consistsof reactor accidents while maintaining of longer-term solutions aimed toor improving existing performance offer significant improvements duringand reliability levels in daily operations. beyond design basis accidents. After extensive testing, evaluation and In addition, Framatomes Advanceddownselection during the programs Fuel Management (AFM) initiative isfirst phase, Framatomes Phase II focused on extending the length of thetechnical approach addresses three current fuel cycles in PWRs from 18focus areas: (i) Chromium (Cr)-coated to 24 months. The objective is to takecladding, (ii) Chromia-doped UO 2fuel advantage of fuel enrichments abovepellets, and (iii) Silicon carbide (SiC) 5% to increase energy production andcomposite materials.26 2020|AFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS'