NSUF 23-4590: Assessment of Local Thermal Conductivity and Microstructure of Irradiated U-20 wt% Pu-10 wt% Zr alloy

The objective of this work is to correlate, for the first time, microstructure and thermal conductivity of irradiated U-Pu-Zr fuel (using combination of complementary techniques). Specifically, we propose to examine U-20 wt% Pu-10 wt% Zr fuel irradiated to a very low burnup (~0.001 at% peak burnup) at a peak center-line temperature of ~710°C. The selection of such low burnup was intentional because it simulates early life behavior of the fuel. First and foremost, these conditions will allow examining initial irradiation enhanced thermal evolution of the microstructure. At such low burnup, number of defects will be low, and it will allow us to quantify defects and correlate them to thermal properties, thereby allowing us to discern the phase vs. defect contribution to thermal conductivity of the metal fuel. Second, it will allow eliminating the effect of fission products and their influence on conductivity of the fuel. To achieve the objective of the project, we will utilize transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to measure the chemical compositions of individual phases and identify phases uses selective area electron diffraction (SAED) analysis. This TEM-based investigation will be combined with thermal conductivity measurements using thermal conductivity microscope (TCM). The combination of these techniques will allow us to link the microstructure and thermal behavior of irradiated U-20wt% Pu-10 wt% Zr on a spatially correlated micrometer scale.

Допълнителна информация

Поле	Стойност
Award Announced Date	2023-02-08T10:47:09.803
Awarded Institution	Idaho National Laboratory
Facility Tech Lead	Alina Montrose
Irradiation Facility
PI	Cynthia Adkins
PI Email	[email protected]
Project Type	RTE
RTE Number	4590