Multiscale modeling of fission gas behavior in U3Si2 under LWR conditions

Barani, T.; Pastore, Giovanni; Pizzocri, D.; Andersson, D. A.; Matthews, C.; Alfonsi, Andrea; Gamble, Kyle A.; Van Uffelen, P.; Luzzi, L.; Hales, Jason D.

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.04.037

Multiscale modeling of fission gas behavior in U₃Si₂ under LWR conditions

Journal Article · Sat May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.04.037· OSTI ID:2336777

Barani, T. ^[1]; Pastore, Giovanni ^[2]; Pizzocri, D. ^[1]; Andersson, D. A. ^[3]; Matthews, C. ^[3]; ^[4]; ^[4]; Van Uffelen, P. ^[5]; Luzzi, L. ^[1]; ^[4]

Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
European Commission, Karlsruhe (Germany)

In this work, we present a model of fission gas behavior in U₃Si₂ under light water reactor (LWR) conditions for application in engineering fuel performance codes. The model includes components for intra-granular and inter-granular behavior of fission gases. The intra-granular component is based on cluster dynamics and computes the evolution of intra-granular fission gas bubbles and swelling coupled to gas diffusion to grain boundaries. The inter-granular component describes the evolution of grain-boundary fission gas bubbles coupled to fission gas release. Given the lack of experimental data for U₃Si₂ under LWR conditions, the model is informed with parameters calculated via atomistic simulations. In particular, we derive fission gas diffusivities through density functional theory calculations, and the re-solution rate of fission gas atoms from intra-granular bubbles through binary collision approximation calculations. Further, the developed model is applied to the simulation of an experiment for U₃Si₂ irradiated under LWR conditions available from the literature. Results point out a credible representation of fission gas swelling and release in U₃Si₂. Finally, we perform a sensitivity analysis for the various model parameters. Based on the sensitivity analysis, indications are derived that can help in addressing future research on the characterization of the physical parameters relative to fission gas behavior in U₃Si₂. The developed model is intended to provide a suitable infrastructure for the engineering scale calculation of fission gas behavior in U₃Si₂ that exploits a multiscale approach to fill the experimental data gap and can be progressively improved as new lower-length scale calculations and validation data become available.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

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

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE). Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 2336777

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 22886668

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU--20-58232-Rev000

Journal Information:: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Vol. 522; ISSN 0022-3115

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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