About this Abstract |
Meeting |
Materials in Nuclear Energy Systems (MiNES) 2021
|
Symposium
|
Materials in Nuclear Energy Systems (MiNES) 2021
|
Presentation Title |
Phase-field Simulations of Fission Gas Bubbles in High Burnup UO2 during Steady-state and LOCA Transient Conditions |
Author(s) |
Larry Aagesen, Sudipta Biswas, Wen Jiang, David Andersson, Michael Cooper, Christopher Matthews |
On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
David Andersson |
Abstract Scope |
U.S. utilities are currently seeking licensing approval to operate UO2 fuel to higher burnups. One significant safety issue that must be addressed to obtain approval is the potential for pulverization of the fuel during a LOCA. It has been hypothesized this is caused by the rapid increase of pressure in fission gas bubbles in the high burnup region of the fuel. To better understand this phenomenon, a novel phase-field model of the fission gas bubble microstructure in UO2 has been developed and implemented in Idaho National Laboratory's Marmot application for phase-field simulation of nuclear materials. During a LOCA transient, simulations of bubbles in the high burnup region showed that bubble size did not change significantly, and the pressure increase due to the transient was calculated and passed to a phase-field model of fracture. |
Proceedings Inclusion? |
Undecided |