Pelleting Work for ESA

National Nuclear Laboratory has award a contract to the University of Manchester for Pelleting work for ESA. The objective of this work package is to make and test U/Ce oxide ceramic pellets. The tasks will include: Manufacture of U/Ce oxide pellets, to a defined specification, including pressing and sintering Reporting of key characteristics including: grain size, pellet cracking (if any) etc Refinement of conditions, if optimisation is required Route to reproducibility Research into how validation of key pellet parameters can be carried out