About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2027 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Radiation Effects in Solid-State Materials: An SMD Symposium Honoring William J Weber
|
| Presentation Title |
Alpha-damage at the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle |
| Author(s) |
Thierry Wiss, Vincenzo Rondinella, Jaroslava Pravdova, Christophe Nourry, Antonio Bulgheroni, Orhun Kahraman, Jean-Yves Colle, Karin Popa |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Thierry Wiss |
| Abstract Scope |
Whatever strategy adopted for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle—be it direct disposal of spent fuel elements after interim storage, or the disposal of waste‑conditioning matrices or vitrified high-level waste after spent fuel re‑processing—alpha‑damage will strongly affect waste form material properties. To expand our knowledge of these properties and how they evolve over centuries or millennia, accelerated ageing is investigated by doping relevant waste form materials with short‑lived actinides such as ēģ⁸Pu. A range of characterizations is carried out to assess the cumulative effects of radiation‑damage and the formation of radiogenic helium. The investigation of rapid and substantial alpha‑damage effects is also relevant for performance studies of radio‑isotope heat generators.
The influence of alpha‑damage on the microstructure of ceramic materials will be presented, together with the resulting changes in thermo-physical properties, the behavior of helium produced by α‑decay, and the effects of annealing on properties and microstructure. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |
| Keywords |
Nuclear Materials, Ceramics, Characterization |