A new and improved gas distributor was developed for use in coating fuel particles for the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. The coating gas enters the coating furnace through multiple thin regions of a porous plate. This more uniformly disperses the gas and leads to improved coating properties. High-quality carbon and silicon carbide coatings were deposited with the new distributor in both 13- and 24-cm (130- and 240-mm)-diam coating furnaces.