The role of UC inclusions in the development of fission gas bubble superlattice neutron-irradiated monolithic U-10Mo fuels

Smith, Charlyne; Bawane, Kaustubh; Gan, Jian; Keiser, Dennis; Salvato, Daniele; Bachhav, Mukesh; Jue, Jan-Fong

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2023.154474

The role of UC inclusions in the development of fission gas bubble superlattice neutron-irradiated monolithic U-10Mo fuels

Journal Article · Sun Apr 23 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2023.154474· OSTI ID:2000473

^[1]; Bawane, Kaustubh ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[2]; Bachhav, Mukesh ^[2]; Jue, Jan-Fong ^[2]

Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (United States)
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Uranium Carbide (UC) inclusions are the most prevalent impurities in Uranium-Molybdenum (U-Mo) fuel and are considered undesirable because they could potentially affect fuel performance. This work revealed that, like grain boundaries (gBs), UC inclusions could help facilitate the formation of the fission gas bubble superlattice (GBS). The GBS is a highly organized complex defect structure that can effectively store fission gases, thereby inhibiting fuel swelling. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that GBS self-organization can initiate at the UC/U-Mo interfaces in U-10Mo fuel irradiated to low fission density. Furthermore, this study also revealed that the UC boundary in U-10Mo irradiated to low fission density is wavy and periodic in morphology and that GBS formation is semi-coherent with the UC boundary. Because the initiation of GBS occurs at gBs and UC/U-Mo interfaces, the fission gas inventory is always highest at those regions compared to the U-Mo grain interior. Consequently, at higher fission densities, it is likely that high burnup structure (HBS) development via grain refinement will begin at gBs and UC/U-Mo interfaces.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 2000473

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2000171

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU--22-69537-Rev000

Journal Information:: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 581; ISSN 0022-3115

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (22)

Grain boundary engineering to control the discontinuous precipitation in multicomponent U10Mo alloy Devaraj, Arun; Kovarik, Libor; Kautz, Elizabeth Acta Materialia, Vol. 151 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2018.03.039	journal	June 2018
Unveiling the interaction of nanopatterned void superlattices with irradiation cascades Sun, Cheng; Jiang, Chao; Che, Yifeng Acta Materialia, Vol. 239 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actamat.2022.118282	journal	October 2022
Delayed onset of discontinuous precipitation-based phase transformation in U10Mo alloys doped with Silicon Song, Miao; Jana, Saumyadeep; Huber, Zach Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 922 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2022.166311	journal	November 2022
Transmission electron microscopy investigation of irradiated U–7wt%Mo dispersion fuel Van den Berghe, S.; Van Renterghem, W.; Leenaers, A. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 375, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2007.12.006	journal	April 2008
Transmission electron microscopy characterization of irradiated U–7Mo/Al–2Si dispersion fuel Gan, J.; Keiser, D. D.; Wachs, D. M. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 396, Issue 2-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2009.11.015	journal	January 2010
TEM characterization of U–7Mo/Al–2Si dispersion fuel irradiated to intermediate and high fission densities Gan, J.; Keiser, D. D.; Miller, B. D. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 424, Issue 1-3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2012.02.001	journal	May 2012
Transmission electron microscopy characterization of the fission gas bubble superlattice in irradiated U–7 wt%Mo dispersion fuels Miller, B. D.; Gan, J.; Keiser, D. D. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 458 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2014.12.012	journal	March 2015
Thermal stability of fission gas bubble superlattice in irradiated U–10Mo fuel Gan, J.; Keiser, D. D.; Miller, B. D. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 464 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.04.023	journal	September 2015
High burn-up structure of U(Mo) dispersion fuel Leenaers, A.; Van Renterghem, W.; Van den Berghe, S. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 476 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2016.04.035	journal	August 2016
Formation mechanism of gas bubble superlattice in UMo metal fuels: Phase-field modeling investigation Hu, Shenyang; Burkes, Douglas E.; Lavender, Curt A. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 479 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2016.07.012	journal	October 2016
Mechanical properties examined by nanoindentation for selected phases relevant to the development of monolithic uranium-molybdenum metallic fuels Newell, Ryan; Park, Youngjoo; Mehta, Abhishek Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 487 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.02.018	journal	April 2017
Microstructural characterization of an irradiated RERTR-6 U-7Mo/AA4043 alloy dispersion fuel plate specimen blister-tested to a final temperature of 500 °C Keiser, Dennis D.; Jue, Jan-Fong; Gan, Jian Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 488 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.02.038	journal	May 2017
Thermal stability of helium bubble superlattice in Mo under TEM in-situ heating Gan, Jian; Sun, Cheng; He, Lingfeng Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 505 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.04.030	journal	July 2018
Microstructural characterization of as-fabricated and irradiated U-Mo fuel using SEM/EBSD Jadernas, Daniel; Gan, Jian; Keiser, Dennis Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 509 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2018.06.007	journal	October 2018
Crystallographic and compositional analysis of impurity phase U2MoSi2C in UMo alloys Kovarik, Libor; Devaraj, Arun; Lavender, Curt Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 519 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.03.044	journal	June 2019
Evaluating the microstructure and origin of nonmetallic inclusions in as-cast U-10Mo fuel Kautz, Elizabeth J.; Shahrezaei, Sina; Athon, Matthew Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 554 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.152949	journal	October 2021
A short review of defect superlattice formation in metals and alloys under irradiation Sun, Cheng Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 559 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2021.153479	journal	February 2022
High burnup structure formation in U-Mo fuels Smith, Charlyne A.; Biswas, Sudipta; Miller, Brandon D. Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 563 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.153617	journal	May 2022
Microstructural anomalies in hot-isostatic pressed U–10 wt.% Mo fuel plates with Zr diffusion barrier Park, Y.; Eriksson, N.; Keiser, D. D. Materials Characterization, Vol. 103 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2015.03.015	journal	May 2015
Formation and self-organization of void superlattices under irradiation: A phase field study Gao, Yipeng; Zhang, Yongfeng; Schwen, Daniel Materialia, Vol. 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2018.04.003	journal	September 2018
Texture Analyses and Microstructural Evolution in Irradiated Monolithic U-Mo Nuclear Fuel Di Lemma, Fidelma; Burns, Jatuporn; Winston, Alexander Microscopy and Microanalysis, Vol. 26, Issue S2 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927620016992	journal	July 2020
IRRADIATION PERFORMANCE OF U-Mo MONOLITHIC FUEL Meyer, M. K.; Gan, J.; Jue, J. F. Nuclear Engineering and Technology, Vol. 46, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.5516/NET.07.2014.706	journal	April 2014

Figures / Tables (8)

Similar Records

Early self-organization of fission gas bubble superlattice formation in neutron-irradiated monolithic U-10Mo fuels

Journal Article · Tue Feb 28 19:00:00 EST 2023 · Journal of Nuclear Materials · OSTI ID:1986309

Possible impacts of Mo chemical banding and second phase impurities on the irradiation behavior of monolithic U-10Mo fuels

Journal Article · Wed Jan 11 19:00:00 EST 2023 · Journal of Nuclear Materials · OSTI ID:2309748

An investigation of the failure modes in U-10Mo monolithic fuel irradiated to high burnup

Journal Article · Wed Dec 14 19:00:00 EST 2022 · Journal of Nuclear Materials · OSTI ID:1957642

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
U-Mo
UC inclusions
UC/U-Mo interface
gas bubble superlattice
self-organization

The role of UC inclusions in the development of fission gas bubble superlattice neutron-irradiated monolithic U-10Mo fuels

Citation Formats

References (22)

Figures / Tables (8)

Similar Records

Related Subjects