The PSI Hotlab

HL Hotzellenkette Arbeit

The nuclear facility Hotlab (HL) of PSI is operated by the Department Hot Laboratory (AHL), which is assigned to the Nuclear Energy and Safety Division (NES) as an independent organizational unit.

The PSI Hotlab is the only Swiss laboratory authorised by the Swiss safety authorities to handle large quantities of radioactive materials including commercial as well as experimental nuclear fuel.

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The department AHL is certified
according to ISO 9001:2015
(Registration 08-345-020)

 

About the department
About the facility
About project BALDER
Porous solder tin pellets sintered under atmosphere at PSI hotlab
•Future Technologies

Transmutex at PSI Hotlab

Hotlab Fuel

Transmutex produces design and software for an accelerator-driven reactor able to transmute long-lived transuranic nuclides and fission products from the classic Uranium cycle for power production.

Benefits such as Nuclear waste volume reductions above a factor of 6 and HAW lifetime reductions to << 1000 years will be attained.

Breeding U-233 in Th fuel in the reactor integrates Transmutex’s design with existing commercial PHWR and LWR in providing fuel and fissionable material for their continued operation.

At PSI hotlab, Transmutex develops the manufacturing of porous metal pellets aiming to produce experimental Th pellets for further investigation utilizing PSI’s and hotlabs’ research capabilities. The new design will unify the advantages of metallic fuel such as high fissile density, ease of fabrication, and more while mitigating classic issues of compact metallic fuel related to the buildup of fission gas.

Successfully produced inactive analogues are illustrating the prove of concept of the design.

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