Understanding the cause of pellet fracture during production of pu-238 oxide heat sources through the coupling of experimentation and model development

A. J. Parkison, U. Carvajal-Nunez, F. A. Carver, C. Matthews, A. T. Nelson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

A comprehensive effort is underway at Los Alamos National Laboratory to understand the causes and mechanisms behind pellet failure due to cracking during the production of238PuO2 heat sources. To this end, the PUMA (Plutonium Modeling and Assessment) code is being developed based on the MOOSE framework. Concurrent with PUMA model development is an experimental campaign using CeO2 surrogate material which seeks to measure and understand the relevant material properties and behavior for incorporation in PUMA. The synergistic nature of this approach has led to a rapid increase in understanding of many of the fundamental mechanisms important to pellet fracture. These surrogate studies will be used to inform future studies using non-surrogate PuO2 materials.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space, NETS 2018
PublisherAmerican Nuclear Society
Pages352-359
Number of pages8
ISBN (Print)9781510859609
StatePublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
EventNuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space, NETS 2018 - Las Vegas, United States
Duration: Feb 26 2018Mar 1 2018

Publication series

NameNuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space, NETS 2018

Conference

ConferenceNuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space, NETS 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLas Vegas
Period02/26/1803/1/18

Funding

This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC and the University of Tennessee under Contract DE-AC05-OR222725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally funded research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). The US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy Nuclear Facility Operations (NE-3) and the NASA Science Mission Directorate sponsored this work. This manuscript was authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy. Research presented in this paper was supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program of Los Alamos National Laboratory under project number 20170531ER.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Understanding the cause of pellet fracture during production of pu-238 oxide heat sources through the coupling of experimentation and model development'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this