CHANGE IN MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF INERT MATRIX NUCLEAR FUEL MATERIALS AFTER THERMAL SHOCK

摘要

Nuclear fuel materials generally undergo the changes of their various properties during their services as heat sources in the nuclear reactors. Changes of their materials properties, mostly thermal and high-temperature mechanical properties are important to be investigated, as these influence their whole in-reactor performance, which is closely relevant to their safety aspect. Recently, studies are extensively focused on the innovative type nuclear fuel materials, in view of reducing the amount of nuclear wastes and/or nuclear materials coming from the dismantling of nuclear weapons, the so-called Inert Matrix Fuel (IMF). Stabilized zirconia and Mg-spinel are the materials the most preferred candidates in the aspect of material behavior under irradiation and, therefore, this study concerns the changes of mechanical properties and thermal conductivity of these materials incorporated with surrogate fuel material (CeO_2), replacing PuO_2, after thermal shock in order to predict the thermal and mechanical behaviors of the fuel during reactor operations.