Radiation damage in crystalline insulators, oxides and ceramic nuclear fuels

Thermal Energy Transport in Oxide Nuclear Fuel

To efficiently capture the energy of the nuclear bond, advanced nuclear reactor concepts seek solid fuels that must withstand unprecedented temperature and radiation extremes. In these advanced fuels, thermal energy transport under irradiation is directly related to reactor performance as well as reactor safety. The science of thermal transport in nuclear fuel is a grand challenge as a result of both computational and experimental complexities. Here we provide a comprehensive review of thermal transport research on two actinide oxides: one currently in use in commercial nuclear reactors, uranium dioxide (UO₂), and one advanced fuel candidate material, thorium dioxide (ThO₂). In both materials, heat is carried by lattice waves or phonons. Crystalline defects caused by fission events effectively scatter phonons and lead to a degradation in fuel performance over time. Bolstered by new computational and experimental tools, researchers are now developing the foundational work necessary to accurately model and ultimately control thermal transport in advanced nuclear fuels. We begin by reviewing research aimed at understanding thermal transport in perfect single crystals. The absence of defects enables studies that focus on the fundamental aspects of phonon transport. Next, we review research that targets defect generation and evolution. Here the focus is on ion irradiation studies used as surrogates for damage caused by fission products. We end this review with a discussion of modeling and experimental efforts directed at predicting and validating mesoscale thermal transport in the presence of irradiation defects. While efforts in these research areas have been robust, challenging work remains in developing holistic tools to capture and predict thermal energy transport across widely varying environmental conditions.

Sensitivity of Anatase and Rutile Phases of TiO2 to ion irradiation: Examination of the applicability of Coulomb Explosion and Thermal Spike Models

Sensitivity of the anatase and rutile phases of titanium dioxide to Swift Heavy Ion (SHI) irradiation was experimentally probed and compared with the predictions of the Coulomb explosion, analytical and inelastic thermal spike models of ion-matter interaction. Conforming to the predictions of all these models, our study indicated higher sensitivity of anatase to these ions than the rutile phase. A detailed examination however revealed that Coulomb explosion model cannot explain either the nature of variation of the interaction cross section of SHI with the energy deposited by these ions, S_e to the target electrons, or the relative values of the threshold electronic energy loss, S_eth of anatase and rutile. The analytical thermal spike (a-TS) model, using the available physicochemical data for this oxide, predicted that tracks cannot form either in anatase or in rutile by 297 MeV and 511 MeV Ni ions, while inelastic thermal spike (i-TS) model predicted formation of ion tracks by 297 MeV Ni ions and their absence with 511 MeV Ni ions in both anatase and rutile. Our observation agreed with the predictions of i-TS model albeit with a difference in the radius of the tracks. In addition, we observed halo of defect ridden crystalline region of much larger radius around the ion track. Interestingly, the radius of the halo scales with the velocity of the ions, which is opposite to the conventionally observed velocity effect.

Properties of the high burnup structure in nuclear light water reactor fuel

The formation of the high burnup structure (HBS) is possibly the most significant example of the restructuring processes affecting commercial nuclear fuel in-pile. The HBS forms at the relatively cold outer rim of the fuel pellet, where the local burnup is 2–3 times higher than the average pellet burnup, under the combined effects of irradiation and thermo-mechanical conditions determined by the power regime and the fuel rod configuration. The main features of the transformation are the subdivision of the original fuel grains into new sub-micron grains, the relocation of the fission gas into newly formed intergranular pores, and the absence of large concentrations of extended defects in the fuel matrix inside the subdivided grains. The characterization of the newly formed structure and its impact on thermo-physical or mechanical properties is a key requirement to ensure that high burnup fuel operates within the safety margins. This paper presents a synthesis of the main findings from extensive studies performed at JRC-Karlsruhe during the last 25 years to determine properties and behaviour of the HBS. In particular, microstructural features, thermal transport, fission gas behaviour, and thermo-mechanical properties of the HBS will be discussed. The main conclusion of the experimental studies is that the HBS does not compromise the safety of nuclear fuel during normal operations.

Irradiation Induced Microstructure Evolution in Nanostructured Materials: A Review

Nanostructured (NS) materials may have different irradiation resistance from their coarse-grained (CG) counterparts. In this review, we focus on the effect of grain boundaries (GBs)/interfaces on irradiation induced microstructure evolution and the irradiation tolerance of NS materials under irradiation. The features of void denuded zones (VDZs) and the unusual behavior of void formation near GBs/interfaces in metals due to the interactions between GBs/interfaces and irradiation-produced point defects are systematically reviewed. Some experimental results and calculation results show that NS materials have enhanced irradiation resistance, due to their extremely small grain sizes and large volume fractions of GBs/interfaces, which could absorb and annihilate the mobile defects produced during irradiation. However, there is also literature reporting reduced irradiation resistance or even amorphization of NS materials at a lower irradiation dose compared with their bulk counterparts, since the GBs are also characterized by excess energy (compared to that of single crystal materials) which could provide a shift in the total free energy that will lead to the amorphization process. The competition of these two effects leads to the different irradiation tolerance of NS materials. The irradiation-induced grain growth is dominated by irradiation temperature, dose, ion flux, character of GBs/interface and nanoprecipitates, although the decrease of grain sizes under irradiation is also observed in some experiments.

Swelling Mechanisms of UO2 Lattices with Defect Ingrowths

The swelling that occurs in uranium dioxide as a result of radiation-induced defect ingrowth is not fully understood. Experimental and theoretical groups have attempted to explain this phenomenon with various complex theories. In this study, experimental lattice expansion and lattice super saturation were accurately reproduced using a molecular dynamics simulation method. Based on their resemblance to experimental data, the simulation results presented here show that fission induces only oxygen Frenkel pairs while alpha particle irradiation results in both oxygen and uranium Frenkel pair defects. Moreover, in this work, defects are divided into two sub-groups, obstruction type defects and distortion type defects. It is shown that obstruction type Frenkel pairs are responsible for both fission- and alpha-particle-induced lattice swelling. Relative lattice expansion was found to vary linearly with the number of obstruction type uranium Frenkel defects. Additionally, at high concentrations, some of the obstruction type uranium Frenkel pairs formed diatomic and triatomic structures with oxygen ions in their octahedral cages, increasing the slope of the linear dependence.

Atomistic simulation of ion track formation in UO2

The atomistic simulation of track formation due to the moving of swift heavy ion is performed for uranium dioxide. The two-temperature atomistic model with an explicit account of electron pressure and electron thermal conductivity is used. This two-temperature model describes a ionic subsystem by means of molecular dynamics while the electron subsystem is considered in the continuum approach. The various mechanisms of track formation are examined. It is shown that the mechanism of surface track formation differs from the mechanism of track formation in the bulk. The threshold values of the stopping power for track formation are estimated.

Radiation-induced decomposition of U(VI) alteration phases of UO2

U6+−phases are common alteration products of spent nuclear fuel under oxidizing conditions, and they may potentially incorporate actinides, such as long-lived 239Pu and 237Np, delaying their transport to the biosphere. In order to evaluate the ballistic effects of α-decay events on the stability of the U6+−phases, we report, for the first time, the results of ion beam irradiations (1.0 MeV Kr2+) for six different structures of U6+-phases: uranophane, kasolite, boltwoodite, saleeite, carnotite, and liebigite. The target uranyl-minerals were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and identification confirmed by SAED (selected area electron diffraction) in TEM (transmission electron microscopy). The TEM observation revealed no initial contamination of uraninite in these U6+ phases. All of the samples were irradiated with in situ TEM observation using 1.0 MeV Kr2+ in the IVEM (intermediate-voltage electron microscope) at the IVEM-Tandem Facility of Argonne National Laboratory. The ion flux was 6.3 × 1011 ions/cm2/sec. The specimen temperatures during irradiation were 298 and 673 K, respectively. The Kr2+-irradiation decomposed the U6+-phases to nanocrystals of UO2 at doses as low as 0.006 dpa. The cumulative doses for the pure U6+-phases, e.g., uranophane, at 0.1 and 1 million years (m.y.) are calculated to be 0.009 and 0.09 dpa using SRIM2003. However, with the incorporation of 1 wt.% 239Pu, the calculated doses reach 0.27 and ∼1.00 dpa in ten thousand and one hundred thousand years, respectively.

Under oxidizing conditions, multiple cycles of radiation-induced decomposition to UO2 followed by alteration to U6+-phases should be further investigated to determine the fate of trace elements that may have been incorporated in the U6+-phases.

Amorphization of Complex Ceramics by Heavy-Particle Irradiations

“Complex” ceramics, for the purpose of this paper, include materials that are generally strongly bonded (mixed ionic and covalent), refractory and frequently good insulators. They are distinguished from simple, compact ceramics (e.g., MgO and UO2) by structural features which include: 1.) open network structures, best characterized by a consideration of the shape, size and connectivity of coordination polyhedra; 2.) generally, complex compositions which characteristically lead to multiple cation sites and lower symmetry; 3.) directional bonding; 4.) bond-type variations, from bond-to-bond, within the structure. The heavy particle irradiations not only include ion-beam irradiations, but also recoil-nucleus damage resulting from a-decay events from constituent actinides. The latter effects are responsible for the radiation-induced transformation to the metamict state in minerals. The responses of these materials to irradiation are complex, as energy may be dissipated ballistically by transfer of kinetic energy from an incident projectile or radiolytically by conversion of radiation-induced electronic excitations into atomic motion. This results in isolated Frenkel defect pairs, defect aggregates, isolated collision cascades or bulk amorphization; all may occur concurrently. Thus, the amorphization process is heterogeneous. Only recently have there been systematic studies of heavy particle irradiations of “complex” ceramics on a wide variety of structure-types and compositions as a function of dose and temperature. In this paper, we review the conditions for amorphization for the tetragonal orthosilicate, zircon [ZrSiO4]; the hexagonal orthosilicate/phosphate apatite structure-type [X10(ZO4)6(F,Cl,O)2]; the isometric pyrochlores [A1-2B2O6(O,OH,F)o-1pH2O] and its monoclinic derivative zirconolite [CaZrTi2O7]; the olivine (derivative - hcp) structure types, α-VIA2IVBO4, and spinet (ccp,) γ-VIA2IVBO4.

Structural Criteria for Amorphization of Network Solids

Amorphization, like glass-formation, represents fundamentally a failure to crystallize. The problem is to understand how atoms can rearrange themselves, perhaps within the confines of unaffected surrounding crystal, after a local disordering event. Some ceramics, like alkali halides and oxides with the rocksalt structure, appear almost impossible to amorphize, forming localized aggregate defects (voids, dislocation loops, colloids) and even decomposing (as a response to radiation disorder), rather than structurally reordering (or disordering). Other network solids such as silicas and silicates readily amorphize. In this study, we attempt to establish topology and structural freedom as criteria for amorphization of network solids.

Amorphization of Ceramic Materials by Ion-Beam-Irradiation: Parallels to Glass Formation

Ion-beam-induced amorphization of a wide variety of ceramic materials has been investigated using in situ TEM at the HVEM-Tandem Facility at Argonne National Laboratory with 1.5 MeV Kr+ or Xe+ ions at temperatures between 20 to 1000 K. The critical amorphization temperatures and the activation energies associated with the expitaxial recovery of displacement cascades during irradiation have been determined from the temperature dependence of the critical amorphization dose. The results for phases in the A12 O3-MgO-SiO2 system suggested a parallel in the kinetics between ion-beam-induced amorphization and glass formation. Based on a cascade quenching model, a semiempirical parameter, S, which can easily be calculated from both structural and chemical parameters of a material, has been developed to predict the susceptibility of ceramics to amorphization. The critical amorphization temperature, above which irradiationinduced amorphization cannot be completed, is closely related to the glass transition temperature. The ratio between glass transition and melting temperatures can also be used to predict the susceptibility of a ceramic material to amorphization, equivalent to the Debye temperature criterion.

α-Radiolysis and α-Radiation Damage Effects on uo2 Dissolution Under Spent Fuel Storage Conditions

α-decay will constitute almost entirely the radiation field in and around spent nuclear fuel after a few hundred years in a geological repository. Pellets of UO 2 containing ˜0.1 and ˜10 wt. % 238Pu were fabricated using a sol-gel method and characterized, comparing their properties to those of undoped UO2. The α-radiation fields of different types of commercial LWR spent fuel are of the same order of magnitude as the fuel with the lower Pu-concentration used in this work. The results of static batch leaching tests at room temperature in demineralized water under anoxic atmosphere showed that the amounts of U released during leaching were higher in the case of UO2 containing 238pu than for undoped UO2. Relatively large amounts of Pu were released after the longest leaching times. Lattice parameter measurements using XRD and hardness measurements by Vickers indentation showed a relatively rapid build-up of α-decay damage in the material stored at ambient temperature with the higher concentration of dopant, while for the material with ˜0.1 wt. % Pu no clear variations were detected during the same time intervals.

Biaxial Texturing of Inorganic Photovoltaic Thin Films Using Low Energy Ion Beam Irradiation During Growth

We describe our efforts to control the grain boundary alignment in polycrystalline thin films of silicon by using a biaxially textured template layer of CaF2 for photovoltaic device applications. We have chosen CaF2 as a candidate material due to its close lattice match with silicon and its suitability as an ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) material. We show that the CaF2 aligns biaxially at a thickness of ~10 nm and, with the addition of an epitaxial CaF2 layer, has an in-plane texture of ~15°. Deposition of a subsequent layer of Si aligns on the template layer with an in-plane texture of 10.8°. The additional improvement of in-plane texture is similar to the behavior observed in more fully characterized IBAD materials systems. A germanium buffer layer is used to assist in the epitaxial deposition of Si on CaF2 template layers and single crystal substrates. These experiments confirm that an IBAD template can be used to biaxially orient polycrystalline Si.