Thermophysical properties of VVER uranium-gadolinium fuel pellets with 6–10 wt% of gadolinium oxide

• Published in: Atomic energy (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 135; no. 3-4; pp. 157 - 165
• Main Authors: Fedotov, A. V., Lysikov, A. V., Lutkov, M. A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Calibration; Diffusivity; Emergency procedures; Fuels; Gadolinium; Gadolinium oxide; Gadolinium oxides; Hadrons; Heat conductivity; Heat transfer; Heavy Ions; Lasers; Nuclear Chemistry; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear fuel elements; Nuclear fuels; Nuclear Physics; Oxidation; Pellets; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Pressure dependence; Reference materials; Temperature; Temperature dependence; Thermal capacity; Thermal conductivity; Thermal diffusivity; Thermal expansion; Thermophysical properties; Uranium; Uranium dioxide; 621.039.542.342:544.8
• ISSN: 1063-4258; 1573-8205
• DOI: 10.1007/s10512-024-01096-6

The study aims to determine the thermophysical properties of uranium-gadolinium oxide fuel pellets with 6, 7, 9, and 10 wt% of gadolinium oxide for the verification of the Start-4A calculation code. The determined properties will help to clarify calculations on the behavior of fuel elements in normal and emergency operational conditions during operability substantiation and licensing of the fuel for VVER reactor plants. Experimental dependencies of thermal expansion, specific thermal capacity at a constant pressure and thermal diffusivity were obtained along with the calculated dependence of thermal conductivity on the temperature for the fuels with various contents of Gd 2 O 3 . In comparison with uranium dioxide, the main contribution to an almost twofold decrease in thermal conductivity at an increase in the gadolinium content is made by the thermal diffusivity of uranium-gadolinium fuel.