About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Modeling, AI Applications, and Method Development in Nuclear Materials
|
| Presentation Title |
Preparation and Characterization of High-Burnup Simulated UO2 Fuels |
| Author(s) |
Rebecca Manns, Josephine Libero-Cruzado, Paul Day, Daniel Koury |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Rebecca Manns |
| Abstract Scope |
This work describes the preparation and characterization of Simulated Spent Nuclear Fuel (SIMFuel) to replicate the chemical and microstructural properties of spent nuclear fuel from Light Water Reactors (LWR) at high burnups. Achieving higher burnups as part of the accident tolerant fuel initiative would allow facilities to operate on longer reactor cycles and refuel less often. However, the reactor safety when reaching these elevated burnup levels needs to be studied before approving any licensure. Ten solid fission product elements, including technetium, were added to depleted UO2 powder and sintered into pellets to simulate the compositions after burnups of 50, 75, and 100 MWd/kg HM. The fission product concentration at each burnup was calculated using fission product element concentration data from literature. After sintering, SIMFuel pellets were polished, then characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Characterization, |