Atomistic Level Study of Ce3Si2 Oxidation as an Accident Tolerant Nuclear Fuel Surrogate

Robert Harrison, R N Worth, James Buckley, Timothy Abram

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Abstract

The oxidation mechanisms of Ce3Si2 (as a surrogate for U3Si2 accident tolerant nuclear fuel) has been studied to 750C in flowing air. Discrepancies between the terminal and theoretical mass gains for complete oxidation, similar to previous works on the U3Si2 system are attributed to incomplete oxidation of Si, which forms amorphous SiO2 and regions of nano-crystalline free Si. Nano-grained (< 5 nm) CeO2 also formed after oxidation leading to pulverisaiton, the resulting composition and nano-structure may have highly deleterious consequences for the fuel material under oxidative atompsheres, increasing the rate of oxidation, spallation and fission product release.
Original languageEnglish
Article number108332
JournalCorrosion Science
Volume164
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2020

Keywords

  • Accident tolerant
  • Intermetallic
  • Nuclear fission
  • Nuclear fuel
  • Oxidation
  • Silicide

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Dalton Nuclear Institute

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