Effect of the cascade energy on defect production in uranium dioxide

The primary damage induced by a displacement cascade in a pure uranium dioxide matrix was investigated using classical molecular dynamics simulations. Cascades were initiated by accelerating a uranium primary knock-on atom (PKA) to a kinetic energy ranging from 1 keV to 80 keV inside a perfect UO₂ lattice at low temperature (300 K and 700 K). There is little effect of temperature in the temperature range studied. Following the cascade event, the damage level, defined as the total number of defects irrespective of whether they form clusters or not, is proportional to the initial kinetic energy of the PKA, in agreement with the literature relating to other materials. The linear dependence of damage upon initial PKA energy results from the formation of subcascades at high energy and constitutes a simple law which can be applied to any material and used in order to extrapolate molecular dynamics results to high energy PKAs. The nature of irradiation induced defects has also been studied as a function of the cascade energy.