Interrelationship between thermal and electrical conductivity of (Dy,Zr)N solid solution simulating nitride fuel

Takaki, Seiya  ; Takano, Masahide 

Nitride fuel with ZrN matrix have been studied for transmutation of minor actinide (MA). Although composition and temperature dependence of thermal conductivity for safety evaluation of the fuel have been studied with a little of MA, there is little information about physical explanation of thermal conduction for MA nitride fuel. In the present study, we are aimed to clarify composition and temperature dependence of thermal conductivity of DyZrN solid solution as surrogate nitride fuel with MA in order to understand the dependence of the MA nitride fuel physically. We found thermal conductivity by using laser flash methods and electrical contribution of thermal conductivity by measuring electrical conductivity, which revealed that electrical conductivity is responsible for thermal conductivity.