Self-irradiation effect on thermal conductivity of (PuCm)O

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

To clarify the storage duration dependence of the thermal conductivity of MA containing oxide fuel, the thermal diffusivity of (PuCm)O was measured at 473, 523 and 573 K by a laser flash method using the sample stored for 48, 264, 504, and 960 h. The heat capacity was measured by a drop calorimetry to derive the thermal conductivity. It was confirmed that the degradation of the thermal conductivity was attributed to the accumulation of lattice defects caused by self-irradiation, because the storage duration dependence of the thermal conductivity could be approximated by the equation used for self-irradiation lattice expansion model.