Some Thermodynamic Features of Uranium–Plutonium Nitride Fuel in the Course of Burnup

Journal Article · Fri Dec 15 04:00:00 EST 2017 · Physics of Atomic Nuclei

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063778817080130· OSTI ID:22760238

Ivanov, A. S.; Belov, G. V. ^[1]; Skupov, M. V. ^[2]

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1. National Research Center Kurchatov Institute (Russian Federation)
2. Bochvar High-Technology Research Institute of Inorganic Materials (Russian Federation)

Calculation studies on the effect of carbon and oxygen impurities on the chemical and phase compositions of nitride uranium–plutonium fuel in the course of burnup are performed using the IVTANTHERMO code. It is shown that the number of moles of UN decreases with increasing burnup level, whereas UN{sub 1.466}, UN{sub 1.54}, and UN{sub 1.73} exhibit a considerable increase. The presence of oxygen and carbon impurities causes an increase in the content of the UN{sub 1.466}, UN{sub 1.54} and UN{sub 1.73} phases in the initial fuel by several orders of magnitude, in particular, at a relatively low temperature. At the same time, the presence of impurities abruptly reduces the content of free uranium in unburned fuel. Plutonium in the considered system is contained in form of Pu, PuC, PuC{sub 2}, Pu{sub 2}C{sub 3}, and PuN. Plutonium carbides, as well as uranium carbides, are formed in small amounts. Most of the plutonium remains in the form of nitride PuN, whereas unbound Pu is present only in the areas with a low burnup level and high temperatures.

• OSTI ID: 22760238
• Journal Information: Physics of Atomic Nuclei, Journal Name: Physics of Atomic Nuclei Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 80; ISSN 1063-7788; ISSN PANUEO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
BURNUP
CARBON
IMPURITIES
NUCLEAR FUELS
OXYGEN
PLUTONIUM
PLUTONIUM CARBIDES
PLUTONIUM NITRIDES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0065-0273 K
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
THERMODYNAMICS
URANIUM
URANIUM CARBIDES
URANIUM NITRIDES