Derivation of effective fission gas diffusivities in UO2 from lower length scale simulations and implementation of fission gas diffusion models in BISON

Technical Report · Fri Nov 07 04:00:00 EST 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1163628· OSTI ID:1163628

Andersson, Anders David Ragnar ^[1]; Pastore, Giovanni ^[2]; Liu, Xiang-Yang ^[1]; Perriot, Romain Thibault ^[1]; Tonks, Michael ^[2]; Stanek, Christopher Richard ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
2. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

This report summarizes the development of new fission gas diffusion models from lower length scale simulations and assessment of these models in terms of annealing experiments and fission gas release simulations using the BISON fuel performance code. Based on the mechanisms established from density functional theory (DFT) and empirical potential calculations, continuum models for diffusion of xenon (Xe) in UO₂ were derived for both intrinsic conditions and under irradiation. The importance of the large X_eU3O cluster (a Xe atom in a uranium + oxygen vacancy trap site with two bound uranium vacancies) is emphasized, which is a consequence of its high mobility and stability. These models were implemented in the MARMOT phase field code, which is used to calculate effective Xe diffusivities for various irradiation conditions. The effective diffusivities were used in BISON to calculate fission gas release for a number of test cases. The results are assessed against experimental data and future directions for research are outlined based on the conclusions.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1163628
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-14-27919
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE