| Abstract Scope |
The study of actinide elements has long been the interest of US government entities, whose applications range from nuclear reactors including fuel-cladding interactions and nuclear forensics testing. The presence of impurities in actinides such as uranium and plutonium is well known; and trace amounts of iron can be problematic as it readily forms intermetallics of various compositions. The interaction of Actinides (U,Pu,Am,Np) and actinide alloys such as the δ-stabilized Pu-Ga alloy with iron is of interest to understand the impurity effects on phase stability. We apply the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagrams) method to develop a database that includes U,Pu,Ga,Am,Np,Fe and is used to predict the phase stability across temperature and composition. DFT calculations are performed to validate the stability of the stoichiometric (U,Pu,Am,Np)Fe2 and (U,Pu,Am,Np)6Fe compounds. Experimental suggestions are made where experimental data is missing.
This work was performed under contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. |