About this Abstract |
Meeting |
2020 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
Symposium
|
Computational Materials Science and Engineering of Materials in Nuclear Reactors
|
Presentation Title |
Thermodynamic Properties at the Rim in High Burnup UO2 Fuels |
Author(s) |
Dillon Frost, Jessica Veliscek-Carolan, Conor Galvin, Edward Obbard, Michael William Donald Cooper, Patrick Burr |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Dillon Frost |
Abstract Scope |
Permanent bonding between UO2 and zirconium alloy cladding occurs at burnups exceeding 47 GWd/t. A solid solution of (U,Zr)O2 is produced. A combinatorial approach of sol-gel synthesis and MD simulations was used to examine the thermodynamic properties of (U,Zr)O2. Increasing the concentration of Zr in the (U,Zr)O2 mixtures resulted in a reduction of thermal conductivity at room temperature which became negligible at reactor operating temperatures. Tetragonal ZrO2 is found at the rim at moderate (20-30 GWd/t) burnups which results in a significantly reduced thermal conductivity at the rim compared to that of the (U,Zr)O2 mixtures. The (U,Zr)O2 layer at the pellet-clad interface is somewhat beneficial as it provides a thermal conductivity which is an order of magnitude higher than that of He and fission gases. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: Supplemental Proceedings volume |