2018 | AFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS 20 As an alternative to the conven- tional uranium dioxide (UO2) fuel system, a team at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has developed a new capability to manu- facture uranium silicide (U3Si2) fuel pellets for the Westinghouse Electric Company as part of their EnCoreTM product line of accident tolerant fuels. Figure 1. "Green" uranium silicide fuel pellets prior to sintering in the Experimental Fuels Facility at Idaho National Laboratory. Manufactured in the Experimental Fuels Facility (EFF) at the Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC), the advan- tages of the U3Si2 fuel is a higher uranium density and much higher thermal conductivity.With a higher thermal conductivity, the EnCore fuel promises a safety improvement by tolerating a much higher linear heat rate prior to fuel melt.The EnCore Uranium Silicide Fuel Pellet Production Idaho National Laboratory