Molecular Dynamics Studies of Americium-Containing Mixed Oxide Fuels

摘要

The molecular dynamics (MD) calculation was performed for americium-containing mixed oxide fuels, (U_(0.7-x)Pu_(0.3)Am_x)O_2 (x=0, 0.016,0.03,0.05,0.1,0.15), in the temperature range from 300 to around 2,500 K to evaluate the lattice parameter, heat capacity and thermal conductivity. The MD results reveal that the calculated heat capacity and thermal conductivity are at a similar level in the entire composition range, in other words they are scarcely influenced by adding americium up to 15%. This behavior was examined from a view point of a phonon-impurity scattering mechanism.