NSUF 22-4388: An Assessment of Radial Compositional Variations of the Grey Phase in FBR MOX Fuel Using EPMA
Throughout the literature, there are variations in the reported composition for the grey phase. There is a general understanding that the phase is an oxide phase with barium, zirconium, uranium, plutonium, and molybdenum. However, the expected compositional range for the phase has not been determined. Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) can be used to fill in this knowledge gap by collecting radial line scans in the central and mid-radial regions on a sample of fast breeder reactor (FBR) mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The sample of MOX fuel proposed for analysis in this work has a unique distribution of grey phase throughout the central and mid-radial regions that is not commonly observed in these fuels. Conducting a radial EPMA analysis on this sample provides the opportunity to correlate the composition of the grey phase to temperature, which has not yet been done. The compositional information obtained from this work will greatly improve our understanding of the grey phase and its formation, which can be used to enhance thermodynamic models. With an expected timeline of two months, this project will not only improve our understanding of the grey phase in MOX fuels, but other oxide fuels, such as light water reactor UO2 and accident tolerant oxide fuels, that are also impacted by grey phase formation.
Additional Info
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Awarded Institution | University of Florida |
| Embargo End Date | 2026-02-27 |
| Facility Tech Lead | Alina Montrose |
| NSUF Call | FY 2022 RTE 1st Call |
| PI | Casey McKinney |
| PIE Facilities | Irradiated Materials Characterization Laboratory |
| Project Member | Professor Assel Aitkaliyeva, Assistant Professor - University of Florida (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1481-6804) |
| Project Member | Dr. Casey McKinney, Postdoctoral Research Associate - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3538-3614) |
| Project Member | Theodore Besmann, Professor - University of South Carolina (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5598-0550) |
| Project Member | Karen Wright, Instrument Scientist - Idaho National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4504-929X) |
| Project Notes | Awarded on 06/14/2022 |
| Project Type | RTE |
| RTE Number | 4388 |