Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A fuel assembly comprising a plurality of fuel rods, each fuel rod containing a plurality of nuclear fuel pellets, wherein at least one fuel pellet in more than 50% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound, wherein the boron-containing compound is boron nitride, and wherein the actinide compound is constituted of one or a multiplicity of actinides compounded with nitrogen, the actinide selected from the group consisting of uranium, plutonium, thorium and a combination thereof. 2. The fuel assembly of claim 1, wherein said boron-containing compound in said at least one fuel pellet comprises enriched boron. 3. The fuel assembly of claim 2, wherein said enriched boron is enriched to a content of 10B greater than natural boron. 4. The fuel assembly of claim 1, wherein said boron-containing compound is present in said fuel pellet in an amount of about 5 ppm to about 5 wt %, based on a total amount of fuel in said fuel pellet. 5. The fuel assembly of claim 4, wherein said boron-containing compound is present in said fuel pellet in an amount of about 10 ppm to about 20,000 ppm, based on the total amount of fuel in said fuel pellet. 6. The fuel assembly of claim 5, wherein said boron-containing compound is present in said fuel pellet in an amount of about 600 ppm to about 20,000 ppm, based on the total amount of fuel in said fuel pellet. 7. The fuel assembly of claim 1, wherein at least one fuel pellet in at least 60% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound. 8. The fuel assembly of claim 1, wherein at least one fuel pellet in at least 80% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound. 9. The fuel assembly of claim 1, wherein at least one fuel pellet in at least 50% and less than 100% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound. 10. A light water reactor having a fuel assembly, the fuel assembly comprising a plurality of fuel rods, each fuel rod containing a plurality of nuclear fuel pellets not requiring coatings, wherein at least one fuel pellet in more than 50% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound, wherein the boron-containing compound is boron nitride, and wherein the actinide compound is constituted of one or a multiplicity of actinides compounded with nitrogen, the actinide selected from the group consisting of uranium, plutonium, thorium, and a combination thereof. 11. The light water reactor of claim 10, wherein said boron-containing compound in said at least one fuel pellet comprises enriched boron. 12. The light water reactor of claim 11, wherein said enriched boron is enriched to a content of 10B greater than natural boron. 13. The light water reactor of claim 10, wherein said boron-containing compound is present in said fuel pellet in an amount of about 5 ppm to about 5 wt percent, based on a total amount of fuel in said fuel pellet. 14. The light water reactor of claim 13, wherein said boron-containing compound is present in said fuel pellet in an amount of about 10 ppm to about 20,000 ppm, based on the total amount of fuel in said fuel pellet. 15. The light water reactor of claim 14, wherein said boron-containing compound is present in said fuel pellet in an amount of about 600 ppm to about 20,000 ppm, based on the total amount of fuel in said fuel pellet. 16. The light water reactor of claim 10, wherein at least one fuel pellet in at least 60% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound. 17. The light water reactor of claim 10, wherein at least one fuel pellet in at least 80% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound. 18. The light water reactor of claim 10, wherein at least one fuel pellet in at least 50% and less than 100% of said fuel rods in said fuel assembly comprises a sintered admixture of an actinide compound and a boron-containing compound.