Predicting the in-reactor behaviour of advanced nuclear fuels

Uranium diboride (UB2), has recently shown promise as a future nuclear fuel, to replace the uranium oxide (UO2) currently used in most nuclear power plants worldwide. Our research has shown that UB2 has exceptional thermal and neutronic properties, but we don’t yet know how these properties will evolve as the fuel is being used up in the reactor.  In this project we look at how fission products are accommodated in the fuel using atomic-scale simulations. Do they remain in solution? Are they trapped at grain boundaries or secondary phases? Do the react chemically to form new phases? Do they escape the fuel and interact with the cladding? These are some of the question that the project will answer.

Research areas: Nuclear fuels, Materials science, Atomic-scale simulations