| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2024 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Ceramics and Ceramic-based Composites for Nuclear Fission Applications
|
| Presentation Title |
Unraveling the Influence of Charge Effect on Defect Recombination in ThO2 |
| Author(s) |
Lin-Chieh Yu, Yongfeng Zhang |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Lin-Chieh Yu |
| Abstract Scope |
Actinide oxides are high-energy-density fuels frequently utilized in nuclear reactor. During operation, irradiation-induced point defect (vacancies, interstitials, and charged defects) and their agglomerations such as dislocation loops are produced, and they degrade fuel thermal conductivity. Here, we applied molecular dynamics simulations to study early-stage defect production and interaction in ThO2 under electron irradiation to understand the defect evolution below TEM detection limits. Multiple interatomic potentials are utilized to minimize the dependence of the results on potentials. Displacement threshold energies of both Th and O ions are identified along different crystalline directions and at different temperatures. Consistent with literature results in UO2, it is found that higher primary knock-on atom energy is needed to create an O Frenkel pair although it’s easier to displace an O ion than Th. This observation is explained by the Coulomb interaction between charged defects that reduces the effective barrier for recombination. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Modeling and Simulation, Computational Materials Science & Engineering |