Material attractiveness evaluation of inert matrix fuel for nuclear security and non-proliferation

Aoki, Takeshi; Sagara, Hiroshi; Han, Chi Young

doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2018.10.063

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Utilization of metal-matrix composite fuels in fast reactors and advanced nuclear systems (Vatulin et al, 2001;International Atomic Energy Agency, 2006;Lipkina et al, 2014;Aoki et al, 2019) has been considered as a means to depleting the inventories of plutonium and minor actinides in the spent fuels from commercial thermal reactors. With deep burnup (Neeft et al, 2003;Savchenko et al, 2006;Savchenko et al, 2009), the loaded radioactive materials can be disposed sufficiently.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on the Homogenized Postirradiation Elastoplastic Constitutive Relations for Composite Nuclear Fuels

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Mater.

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A multi-scale finite element method is developed to simulate the irradiation process and postirradiation uniaxial tensile tests for metal-matrix composite fuels with representative volume elements (RVEs). The simulations of irradiation process are implemented under a wide range of burnup levels, with the irradiation effects on the mechanical constitutive relations of fuel particles and matrix taken into account comprehensively. The simulation results for the macroscopic postirradiation true stress/strain curves are obtained, excluding the irradiation-induced macroscopic deformations. The effects of particle fission density, temperature, and initial particle volume fraction are investigated and analyzed. The research results indicate that 1) a quasi-elastic stage appears during the postirradiation tension, which is mainly induced by the creation of high residual compressive stresses in the particles and matrix after irradiation; 2) with the increase of effective strains, new plastic deformations increase in the particles and matrix to result in the macroscale plastic stage; 3) the macroscale irradiation softening and hardening phenomena appear, which mainly stem from the weakened deformation resistance by the irradiation-induced plastic deformations in the matrix, the enlarged particle volume fraction after irradiation, and the irradiation hardening effects of metal matrix.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on the Homogenized Postirradiation Elastoplastic Constitutive Relations for Composite Nuclear Fuels

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Mater.

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“…ZrO 2 在加热冷却过程中, 可发生单斜至四方相变(1100-1250 ℃), 以及四方至单斜相变(1050-700 ℃), 后者的剪切应变为16%-18%, 导致体积增加约5% [5] . 核反应堆的强辐射环境可诱导ZrO 2 发生相变, 这将对ZrO 2 在核工业方面的应用产生极大影响, 例如惰性基质燃料相变引起的体积和应力变化将可能损坏燃料棒结构, 损伤核反应装置, 带来核泄漏风险 [1,2,6] . 因此, 研究ZrO 2 在高能粒子辐照下的相变行为具有重要工程意义.…”

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Molecular dynamics simulation of phase transition by thermal spikes in monoclinic ZrO2

Zhao¹,

Qu²,

Jia-Chi³

et al. 2021

Acta Phys. Sin.

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Owing to its excellent corrosion, radiation and high temperature resistance, ZrO2 has been considered as a strong candidate material for inert fuel for the incineration of actinides. In this paper, a combination of thermal spike model and molecular dynamics is used to simulate the phase transition process of ZrO2 in the nuclear radiation environment. Based on the thermal spike model, two coupled diffusion equations are established with considering the multiple physical process of energy deposition and transmission after the implantation of swift heavy ions into target material. The space-time evolution characteristics of ZrO2 lattice temperature are obtained by solving the coupled diffusion equations numerically. Then the phase transformation of ZrO2 form monoclinic phase to tetragonal phase under the thermal spike is investigated on an atomic scale by means of molecular dynamics. It is found that a cylindrical track with a radius of 7 nm is generated in the center of ZrO2 after the implantation of swift heavy ion with an electronic energy loss of 30 keV·nm–1. The lattice melts immediately in the center of track, accompanied with the coordination number of Zr decreasing from 7 to 4–6. Then at about 2 ps, the melting zone gradually turns cool and recrystallized. And in the center of the melting zone, voids begin to form and are surrounded by a highly disordered amorphous region. Meanwhile, tetragonal phase of ZrO2, whose coordination number of Zr is 8, is formed at the periphery of the amorphous region, which is also confirmed by the XRD calculation results. As energy transfers from track center to the surround, the tetragonal region gradually develops into the whole system, accompanied with the increase of voids size. The simulation results indicate that the irradiation of ZrO2 with swift heavy ions can lead to a transformation from the monoclinic to the tetragonal phase when the deposited electronic energy loss exceeds an effective threshold ~21 keV·nm–1, greater than the experimental value (12 keV·nm–1), which was mainly due to the large difference between the simulated and measured incident ion fluences and the accuracy of the force field used in the molecular dynamics.

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Proliferation resistance evaluation of an HTGR transuranic fuel cycle using PRAETOR code

Aoki

Chirayath

Sagara

2020

Annals of Nuclear Energy

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Material attractiveness evaluation of inert matrix fuel for nuclear security and non-proliferation

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Research on the Homogenized Postirradiation Elastoplastic Constitutive Relations for Composite Nuclear Fuels

Research on the Homogenized Postirradiation Elastoplastic Constitutive Relations for Composite Nuclear Fuels

Molecular dynamics simulation of phase transition by thermal spikes in monoclinic ZrO<sub>2</sub>

Proliferation resistance evaluation of an HTGR transuranic fuel cycle using PRAETOR code

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