The pressurized water reactor (PWR) employs UO₂ pellets as nuclear fuel, which are packed in zirconium alloy tubes called nuclear fuel cladding. In the manufacture of the nuclear fuel, machining scraps are generated which are not easily discarded as scraps because of its high cost. These zirconium nuclear alloys are very costly and are not produced in Brazil. In this work, novel methods to recycle Zircaloy scraps using vacuum induction melting and electron beam furnaces were used to obtain ingots. The cast ingots were subjected to thermal treatments and then chemically analyzed, followed by microstructural characterization, mechanical properties evaluation, and X-ray diffraction. The results indicated the feasibility of the processes for obtaining alloys for application in the nuclear area, chemical industry or materials for biological applications such as dental prostheses.

压水堆（PWR）使用UO ₂颗粒作为核燃料，装在称为核燃料包壳的锆合金管中。在制造核燃料时，会产生机加工废料，由于其成本高，不容易将其作为废料丢弃。这些锆核合金非常昂贵，并且不在巴西生产。在这项工作中，使用真空感应熔化和电子束炉的新方法来回收Zircaloy废料来获得钢锭。对铸锭进行热处理，然后进行化学分析，然后进行微结构表征，力学性能评估和X射线衍射。结果表明了获得用于核领域，化学工业或用于生物应用的材料（例如假牙）的合金的方法的可行性。