| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2022 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
Advanced Characterization and Modeling of Nuclear Fuels: Microstructure, Thermo-physical Properties
|
| Presentation Title |
Adding Irradiation-assisted Grain Growth to the MARMOT Tool for UO2 Nuclear Fuel |
| Author(s) |
Md Ali Muntaha, Larry Aagesen, Michael Tonks, Zefeng Yu, Arthur Motta |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Md Ali Muntaha |
| Abstract Scope |
MARMOT simulations have been extensively used to investigate grain-boundary migration and grain growth in UO2. While MARMOT was created to model irradiated fuel and cladding at the mesoscale, the current UO2 grain growth model in MARMOT only considers grain growth kinetics of fresh and unirradiated fuel. Thus, the model is missing a critical mechanism that could significantly reduce the accuracy of its predictions. In this study, we are expanding the capabilities of the MARMOT simulation tool to include the impact of irradiation on UO2 grain growth. We have implemented the irradiation effects into MARMOT considering thermal spike by coupling to a heat conduction simulation with a random heat source. We will validate the modeling predictions against in-situ-TEM experimental results for ion-irradiation conditions with nanocrystalline UO2 thin films. Once validated, we can employ the improved model to assess whether this missing mechanism is crucial for grain growth in LWR fuel pellets. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Planned: |