NSUF 19-1644: Impact of grain boundary mobility on fission gas bubble distribution of ion-irradiated monolithic U-Mo fuel
It has been postulated that fission gas bubble growth and distribution is driven by the sub-division of grains during irradiation. Because of the complex nature of mechanisms that occur in reactor environments, it is reasonable to believe that there are other mechanisms that play a significant role in the distribution of fission gas bubbles that can lead to fuel failure. Despite the work conducted to date, the impact of the mobility of grain boundary defects on the production, distribution and growth of fission gas bubbles have not investigated experimentally. Elucidating the role of grain boundary mobility on fission gas diffusion is important to the understanding and thus advancement of fuels in reactor-like environments. Heavy ion beam irradiation of as-fabricated U-Mo fuel can reveal the mobility of grain boundaries as a function of noble gas fission fragment bombardment. This proposal will combine implantation of 8kev He ion and heavy 1MeV Kr ion beam irradiation of as-fabricated monolithic U-Mo fuel irradiation to simulate the irradiation performance of fuel to noble gas fission fragment bombardment and to investigate the swelling profile of fission gas bubble formation and growth. Nuclear fuel behavior in reactor environments is predicted by computational models; however, the accuracy of those models is heavily dependent on performance-dependent inputs provided by experiments. The results obtained in this experiment will provide fission gas bubble density and distribution at varying irradiation temperatures. The dependency of bubble distribution on grain size will also be evaluated. The knowledge gained from the result of the proposal will provide insight on the irradiation mechanisms observed in other metallic fuels such that their in-reactor performance is better understood.
Additional Info
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Abstract | It has been postulated that fission gas bubble growth and distribution is driven by the sub-division of grains during irradiation. Because of the complex nature of mechanisms that occur in reactor environments, it is reasonable to believe that there are other mechanisms that play a significant role in the distribution of fission gas bubbles that can lead to fuel failure. Despite the work conducted to date, the impact of the mobility of grain boundary defects on the production, distribution and growth of fission gas bubbles have not investigated experimentally. Elucidating the role of grain boundary mobility on fission gas diffusion is important to the understanding and thus advancement of fuels in reactor-like environments. Heavy ion beam irradiation of as-fabricated U-Mo fuel can reveal the mobility of grain boundaries as a function of noble gas fission fragment bombardment. This proposal will combine implantation of 8kev He ion and heavy 1MeV Kr ion beam irradiation of as-fabricated monolithic U-Mo fuel irradiation to simulate the irradiation performance of fuel to noble gas fission fragment bombardment and to investigate the swelling profile of fission gas bubble formation and growth. Nuclear fuel behavior in reactor environments is predicted by computational models; however, the accuracy of those models is heavily dependent on performance-dependent inputs provided by experiments. The results obtained in this experiment will provide fission gas bubble density and distribution at varying irradiation temperatures. The dependency of bubble distribution on grain size will also be evaluated. The knowledge gained from the result of the proposal will provide insight on the irradiation mechanisms observed in other metallic fuels such that their in-reactor performance is better understood. |
| Award Announced Date | 2019-02-08T00:00:00 |
| Awarded Institution | None |
| Facility | None |
| Facility Tech Lead | Alina Zackrone, Wei-Ying Chen |
| Irradiation Facility | None |
| PI | Charlyne Smith |
| PI Email | [email protected] |
| Project Type | RTE |
| RTE Number | 1644 |