Thermal conductivities of (ZrPuAm)N solid solutions

Nishi, Tsuyoshi; Takano, Masahide ; Akabori, Mitsuo; Arai, Yasuo

The thermal conductivity of Zr-based minor actinide (MA) nitride solid solutions is important for designing subcritical cores in nitride-fueled ADS. However, there have been no experimental data on the thermal conductivities of Zr-based nitride solid solutions containing MA. In this study, the authors prepared sintered samples of (ZrPuAm)N (x=0.0, 0.58, 0.80) solid solutions. The thermal diffusivity and heat capacity of (ZrPuAm)N solid solutions were measured using a laser flash method and drop calorimetry, respectively. Thermal conductivities were determined from the measured thermal diffusivities, heat capacities and bulk densities over a temperature range of 473 to 1473 K. Moreover, in order to help to promote the design study of nitride-fueled ADS, the thermal conductivity of the (ZrPuAm)N solid solutions were fitted to an equation using the least squares method.