Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2)

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892

Title: Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB₂) and zirconium diboride (ZrB₂)

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Abstract

Uranium diboride is being proposed as an accident tolerant fuel (either as a part of a composite or an ¹¹B enriched monolithic fuel pellet), while zirconium diboride is often selected as a burnable absorber in conjunction with uranium dioxide fuel pellets. It is therefore important to understand the thermal properties of these materials and examine methods in which they may be improved. The thermal conductivity of UB₂ and ZrB₂ is calculated through atomic scale modelling methods. Lastly, it was found that the boron-isotope ratio has a significant impact on the thermal conductivity of ZrB₂, but is negligible for UB₂ due to the large electron-phonon scattering.

Authors:

Evitts, Lee J. ^[1]; Middleburgh, Simon C. ^[1]; Kardoulaki, Erofili ^[2]; Ipatova, Iuliia ^[1]; Rushton, Michael J. D. ^[1]; Lee, W. E. ^[3]

Bangor Univ., Gwynedd (United Kingdom). Nuclear Futures Inst.
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Bangor Univ., Gwynedd (United Kingdom). Nuclear Futures Inst.; Imperial College London, London (United Kingdom). Inst. for Security Science and Technology

Publication Date:: 2019-11-16

Research Org.:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

OSTI Identifier:: 1576937

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-19-25332
Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Journal of Nuclear Materials

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 528; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; Uranium diboride; Zirconium diboride; Nuclear fuel; Thermal conductivity; Density functional theory

Citation Formats


                    Evitts, Lee J., Middleburgh, Simon C., Kardoulaki, Erofili, Ipatova, Iuliia, Rushton, Michael J. D., and Lee, W. E. Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2).  United States: N. p., 2019. 
        Web.  doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892.

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                    Evitts, Lee J., Middleburgh, Simon C., Kardoulaki, Erofili, Ipatova, Iuliia, Rushton, Michael J. D., & Lee, W. E. Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2).  United States.  doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892.

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                    Evitts, Lee J., Middleburgh, Simon C., Kardoulaki, Erofili, Ipatova, Iuliia, Rushton, Michael J. D., and Lee, W. E. Sat .  
        "Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2)".  United States.  doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1576937.

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@article{osti_1576937,

  title        = {Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2)},

  author       = {Evitts, Lee J. and Middleburgh, Simon C. and Kardoulaki, Erofili and Ipatova, Iuliia and Rushton, Michael J. D. and Lee, W. E.},

  abstractNote = {Uranium diboride is being proposed as an accident tolerant fuel (either as a part of a composite or an 11B enriched monolithic fuel pellet), while zirconium diboride is often selected as a burnable absorber in conjunction with uranium dioxide fuel pellets. It is therefore important to understand the thermal properties of these materials and examine methods in which they may be improved. The thermal conductivity of UB2 and ZrB2 is calculated through atomic scale modelling methods. Lastly, it was found that the boron-isotope ratio has a significant impact on the thermal conductivity of ZrB2, but is negligible for UB2 due to the large electron-phonon scattering.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892},

  journal      = {Journal of Nuclear Materials},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 528,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {2019},

  month        = {11}

}

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jnucmat.2019.151892

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Title: Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB2) and zirconium diboride (ZrB2)

Abstract

Citation Formats

Title: Influence of boron isotope ratio on the thermal conductivity of uranium diboride (UB₂) and zirconium diboride (ZrB₂)