| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2016 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Materials and Fuels for the Current and Advanced Nuclear Reactors V
|
| Presentation Title |
The Thermal Properties of Fresh and Spent U-Mo Fuels: An Overview |
| Author(s) |
Winfried Petry, Tanja Huber, Harald Breitkreutz, Christian Reiter, Stefan Elgeti, Douglas Burkes, Amanda Casella, Andrew Casella, Frances Smith, Daniel Wachs |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Winfried Petry |
| Abstract Scope |
The thermal conductivity of research reactor fuel during in-pile irradiation plays a significant role for the performance of the fuel element. It is crucial for the simulation of the heat fluxes and temperatures in the fuel during reactor operation.
The thermal conductivity is a composite of the material’s thermal diffusivity, specific heat capacity and density. For fresh dispersion U-Mo fuels, it lies between 40 and 80W/mK depending on particle shape, matrix material and U-loading. The thermal conductivity of non-irradiated monolithic U-Mo lies around 15W/mK due to the lack of the highly conductive aluminum matrix.
During irradiation, the thermal conductivity of the dispersion fuel strongly deceases down to about 15%. Measurements of a high burn-up dispersion segment yielded a thermal conductivity of 7W/mK. The low thermal conductivity of monolithic fuel further decreases with increasing burn-up down to about 60%. At a medium burn-up, the thermal conductivity is below 10W/mK. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: A print-only volume |