Abstract
Structure of the pellet/cladding-interaction (PCI) layer of a high-burnup nuclear fuel with niobium-bearing cladding was investigated using modern transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Morphology of the PCI consisted of uniform zirconia layer on the cladding side and finger-like features towards to the ceramic fuel. The PCI layer showed a complex microstructure that constitutes three distinct zirconia layers formed by two zirconia phases. From cladding to fuel, monoclinic, tetragonal, and another tetragonal phase were determined via TEM diffraction patterns and precession electron diffraction (PED) using ASTAR microscopy platform (AMP). Characterizations showed that monoclinic and tetragonal phases close to the cladding were crack-free, but the tetragonal layer adjacent to the fuel contained cracks and pores. Presence of the monoclinic layer suggested that its formation involved the gaseous diffusion of oxygen below threshold dose of fission product damage before the fuel/cladding contact occurred. Furthermore, high-resolution TEM revealed compound phase of (U,Zr)O2 at fringes of zirconia fingers on the fuel side.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 153196 |
| Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
| Volume | 556 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 1 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC07–05ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U. S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U. S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U. S. Government purposes. The authors would like to thank the financial support of U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DEAC07–051D14517 as part of the Nuclear Science User Facility. Authors would also like to thank the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) program for providing resources. The authors are thankful to Fabiola Cappia for extensive review of the manuscript. The authors are grateful to Framatome for their technical insight provided to the manuscript. L. He also acknowledges NSUF instrument scientist program for HR-STEM imaging work This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC07–05ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U. S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U. S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U. S. Government purposes. The authors would like to thank the financial support of U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy under DOE Idaho Operations Office Contract DEAC07–051D14517 as part of the Nuclear Science User Facility. Authors would also like to thank the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) program for providing resources. The authors are thankful to Fabiola Cappia for extensive review of the manuscript. The authors are grateful to Framatome for their technical insight provided to the manuscript. L. He also acknowledges NSUF instrument scientist program for HR-STEM imaging work, This information was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the U.S. Government. Neither the U.S. Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. References herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the U.S. Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. Government or any agency thereof. Xiang Liu: performing S/TEM and HR-TEM, writing the original manuscript, visualization of the data, and formal analysis, M Nedim Cinbiz: conceptualization of the work, formal analysis, writing the original draft, funding acquisition, supervising the team, Boopathy Kombaiah: formal analysis, performing PED technique, writing the original draft, and editing, Lingfeng He: formal analysis, performing HR TEM, editing the original draft, supervising the team, project administration, Fei Teng: sample preparations, performing microscopy, Evrard Lacroix: project administration, consulting, editing the original draft, Authors have no known competing interest.
Keywords
- High-burnup fuel
- Interaction layer
- Neutron irradiation
- Pellet-cladding interaction (pci)
- Transmission electron microscopy (tem)
- Zirconium oxide
- Zr-nb-o alloy
- post-irradiation examination (PIE)