Advances in Nuclear Fuel Chemistry

Dr. Piro earned a PhD in Nuclear Engineering from the Royal Military College of Canada with Profs. W.T. Thompson and B.J. Lewis, and held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship (PDF) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory under the supervision of Dr. T.M. Besmann. Both PhD and PDF projects focused on computational thermochemistry of irradiated nuclear fuel. After the PDF, Dr. Piro worked at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) as a research scientist and then Head of the Fuel Modelling and Fission Product Transport Section, where he led a multi-disciplinary group that supported both basic and applied research for government and industry. While his research at CNL broadly involved various aspects of fuel behaviour, the focus was on nuclear fuel chemistry of various fuel types, including conventional power reactor fuel, research reactor fuel, Generation IV concepts, and some exotic (proprietary) fuel designs for industry. In 2017, Dr. Piro was awarded a Canada Research Chair of Nuclear Fuels and Materials at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (now `Ontario Tech University’). His group contributes to a number of research projects in collaboration with partners in industry and government with the ultimate goal of enhancing performance, safety, and environmental stewardship of nuclear fuels and related materials.

1. Introduction

PART A: Fundamentals 2. Thermodynamics and kinetics 3. Experimental Methods 4. Modelling and Simulation

PART B: Fuel Designs 5. Oxide power reactor fuels 6. Other power reactor fuels 7. Molten salt reactor fuels 8. Research reactor fuels

PART C: Stages of the Fuel Cycle and Other Applications 9. Mining and Milling 10. Conversion and Enrichment 11. In-reactor behaviour 12. Reprocessing and recycling 13. Spent fuel storage 14. Severe accident analyses