Amorphization of the interaction products in U–Mo/Al dispersion fuel during irradiation

The microstructures of the product resulting from interaction between U–Mo fuel particles and the Al matrix in U–Mo/Al dispersion fuel are discussed. We analyzed the available characterization results for the Al matrix dispersion fuels from both the out-of-pile and in-pile tests and examined the difference between these results. The morphology of pores that form in the interaction products during irradiation is similar to the porosity previously observed in irradiation-induced amorphized uranium compounds. The available diffraction studies for the interaction products formed in both the out-of-pile and in-pile tests are analyzed. We have concluded that the interaction products in the U–Mo/Al dispersion fuel are formed as an amorphous state or become amorphous during irradiation, depending on the irradiation conditions.     

Transmission electron microscopy characterization of irradiated U–7Mo/Al–2Si dispersion fuel

The plate-type dispersion fuels, with the atomized U(Mo) fuel particles dispersed in the Al or Al alloy matrix, are being developed for use in research and test reactors worldwide. It is found that the irradiation performance of a plate-type dispersion fuel depends on the radiation stability of the various phases in a fuel plate. Transmission electron microscopy was performed on a sample (peak fuel mid-plane temperature ～109 °C and fission density ～4.5 × 10²⁷ f m^?3) taken from an irradiated U–7Mo dispersion fuel plate with Al–2Si alloy matrix to investigate the role of Si addition in the matrix on the radiation stability of the phase(s) in the U–7Mo fuel/matrix interaction layer. A similar interaction layer that forms in irradiated U–7Mo dispersion fuels with pure Al matrix has been found to exhibit poor irradiation stability, likely as a result of poor fission gas retention. The interaction layer for both U–7Mo/Al–2Si and U–7Mo/Al fuels is observed to be amorphous. However, unlike the latter, the amorphous layer for the former was found to effectively retain fission gases in areas with high Si concentration. When the Si concentration becomes relatively low, the fission gas bubbles agglomerate into fewer large pores. Within the U–7Mo fuel particles, a bubble superlattice ordered as fcc structure and oriented parallel to the bcc metal lattice was observed where the average bubble size and the superlattice constant are 3.5 nm and 11.5 nm, respectively. The estimated fission gas inventory in the bubble superlattice correlates well with the fission density in the fuel.     

Experimental stopping powers of Al,Mg, F and O ions in ZrO2 in the 0.1–0.6 MeV/u energy range

The study of the stopping and range of heavy ions (Z > 3) in matter isdsc cfddc of both fundamental and practical interest as heavy ions find increasing usage in a wide range of ion beam based techniques. While semi-empirical formulations like the widely used SRIM code can predict the stopping powers of hydrogen and helium in many elemental and compound targets over a wide range of energies quite well, their predictive accuracy for heavy ions is not as good. This is mainly due to the lack of heavy ion experimental stopping power data on which such codes are based. We present results of measurements performed using a Time of Flight–Energy spectrometer to determine the stopping powers of O, F, Mg and Al ions in the oxide ceramic ZrO₂ within the 0.1–0.6 MeV/u energy range. Possible SRIM correction (or correlation) factors for F, Mg and Al ions were extracted from quantitative comparisons of experimental and predicted stopping power values.