Nuclear Fuel Matrices

Under the Global Nuclear Engineering Partnership (GNEP) a variety of techniques will be applied to study the behavior of actinide surrogates and fission gases in thin film UO2 and UZR.

Heavy ion beams will be used to implant and induce damage that will be further analyzed using multiple characterization techniques. The study will result in a thorough understanding of fuel performance, namely the transport and segregation behavior of actinides and fission products at an atomic level.

Currently, a sputter deposition facility is under construction to grow thin films. Many techniques, such as RBS, SIMS, AES, SAXS, and TEM, will be used to monitor the transport and precipitation phenomenon.


This project is a collaboration between NPRE, MSE, and Physics at UIUC, the NE departments at Michigan and Georgia Institute of Technology, South Carolina State University, ANL, and GE Hitachi Nuclear.