Abstract
Investigating the microstructure and atomic dynamics of solid solutions and the physicochemical processes occurring in them will make it possible to adjust the properties of the solutions in steps, according to prescribed indicators, by using alloying additives. The concept of designing an oxide fuel may be promising for the development of a new generation of nuclear reactors.
Alloying uranium dioxide with an additive having a different valence, consisting of the glass-forming elements carbon and silicon, can double its thermal conductivity and can substantially increase the concentration of equilibrium vacancies in the crystal lattice of the solid solution. This will increase the incubation period for swelling above 20 MW· days/kg and, possibly, decrease the emission of gaseous fission products from the fuel.
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Translated from Atomnaya Énergiya, Vol. 102, No. 2, pp. 109–113, February, 2007.
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Alekseev, P.N., D’yakov, A.V., Kolokol, A.S. et al. Improvement of the operating characteristics of VVÉR oxide fuel. At Energy 102, 129–134 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-007-0019-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10512-007-0019-x