Interactions and immobilization of lanthanides with dopants in uranium-based metallic fuels

Khanal, Rabi; Jerred, Nathan; Benson, Michael T.; Xie, Yi; Mariani, Robert D.; Charit, Indrajit; Choudhury, Samrat

doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152372

Title: Interactions and immobilization of lanthanides with dopants in uranium-based metallic fuels

Journal Article · Thu Jul 16 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2020.152372· OSTI ID:1645098

Khanal, Rabi ^[1]; Jerred, Nathan ^[2]; Benson, Michael T. ^[3]; Xie, Yi ^[3]; Mariani, Robert D. ^[3]; Charit, Indrajit ^[4]; Choudhury, Samrat ^[1]

Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States)
Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States); Center for Advanced Energy Studies, Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States); Center for Advanced Energy Studies, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

In uranium-based fuels, production and migration of lanthanide fission products and subsequent chemical interactions with cladding constituents lead to fuel–cladding chemical interaction (FCCI), limiting fuel performance. In general, dopant addition to the fuel matrix to arrest lanthanides within the fuel by forming intermetallics is found to be effective in mitigating FCCI. Recently, we proposed ab-initio based alloy-design principles, which can be useful in identifying dopant(s) that can bind a lanthanide (Nd) inside the fuel matrix. Here, we demonstrate the robustness of such principles by performing a systematic study to choose dopants to form compounds with a range of experimentally-observed lanthanide fission products. Results reveal that for a given dopant, lanthanide Ce and La exhibit similar behavior in their compound-forming tendencies compared to Nd and Pr, which is linked to lanthanide intrinsic characteristics such as the electronic configurations. Our predicted lanthanide-dopant intermetallic formation is verified experimentally in selective cases. Finally, we showed alloy design principles that accurately identify previously known dopants like Pd, and also predict new dopants As and Se, that can be effective in binding all lanthanides within the uranium matrix. Altogether, this research helps to develop generic alloy-design principles for complex multi-component systems based on lanthanide and dopant intrinsic characteristics.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: NE0008557; AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 1645098

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1810946

Journal Information:: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Vol. 540, Issue C; ISSN 0022-3115

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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