Compact and uniform zirconium carbide (ZrC) coatings have been successfully deposited on coated fuel particles using a ZrCl4+H-2+Ar+C3H6 gas mixture. Zirconium tetrachloride (ZrCl4) powder feeder was especially designed and manufactured to control accurately the flow rate of ZrCl4 and produce ZrC on an industrial scale. The coating has a large density (6.57 g/cm(3)), a thickness of 35 mu m, a stoichiometry close to Zr/C=1, and a clear interface between the coating and substrate. The coating exhibits an fcc-ZrC phase with a grain size of 11.18 nm and a (111) texture coefficient of 0.57, which corresponds to a polycrystalline microstructure of randomly oriented ZrC grains. The preparation apparatus, processing conditions, properties, microstructures, and morphologies of the ZrC coating are investigated systematically.