Metallic fuel transient fuel-cladding interface liquefaction model assessment platform enabled by integrating BISON with databases
A novel platform has been developed within the BISON fuel performance code to assess models of fuel-cladding interface liquefaction for sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) metallic fuels. This platform is crucial because liquefaction at the fuel-cladding interface significantly impacts fuel performance and may compromise fuel pin integrity during transient events. To ensure accurate predictions, the platform […]
Mortar-based Cohesive Zone Model with Application to TRISO Particle Debonding
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program aims to develop predictive capabilities by applying computational methods to the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel cycle systems. This program has been providing engineering-scale support for the development of BISON, a high-fidelity and high-resolution fuel performance tool. This report […]
Unpacking model inadequacy: The quantification of silver release from TRISO fuel by considering empirical and mechanistic approaches
Increasing adoption of the proposed tristructural isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel for both advanced and existing reactors makes it critical to assess and address any uncertainties and inadequacies of TRISO fission product release models. Model inadequacy stems from simplifications made to the computational model when compared to the experiments. The modeling and simulation efforts conducted using […]
BISON-FIPD Integration Enhanced Low-Burnup SFR Metallic Fuel Swelling Model Evaluation Framework
Experiments indicated that metallic fuel in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs) rapidly swells radially and axially at low burnup. Despite that, prior studies have been focused on describing high burnup axial fuel elongation. With recent conventional and non-conventional metallic fuel concepts being considered for license applications, understanding multidimensional fuel swelling at a wide range of burnup […]
Development of mechanistic, microstructure-informed BISON models for fission product-induced failure mechanisms in advanced nuclear fuels
The US continues to prioritize commercial deployment of advanced reactors—particularly those utilizing U-Zr metallic and TRISO particle fuels. Fission product-induced failure mechanisms for these systems include fuel–cladding chemical interaction in metallic fuel rods, which threatens cladding integrity, and Pd penetration in TRISO particles, which degrades SiC layer properties. Empirical models can be applied within the […]
Complete Development of Critical Capabilities for TRISO Fission Product Source Term Calculations and Quantify Mechanisms for Pd Penetration of SiC
Overall fission product (FP) release will be an important consideration for the licensing and deployment of advanced reactors utilizing tristructural isotropic (TRISO) fuels. This work focuses on enhancing and applying the BISON models needed to predict FP transport within TRISO particles and particle failure probability, both of which factor directly into release predictions. Specifically, this […]
Deployment of BISON models of fuel restructuring at high burnup and related fission gas behavior in UO2
This milestone report details the advancements made in fiscal year 2024 under the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program to improve the modeling of fission gas behavior in high burnup UO2 nuclear fuel in the BISON fuel performance code. As nuclear fuel is pushed to higher burnups, significant microstructural changes occur within the […]
Multi-scale modeling of fuel fragmentation and microstructural evolution
An overview of NEAMS program activities to model fuel fragmentation and microstructual evolution to a group of industry attendees at a meeting hosted by EPRI. Topics include atomistic methods to determine grain boundary strength, phase-field fracture modeling to determine critical pressure at grain boundaries, and coupled phase-field-cluster dynamics to model microstructural evolution.
Multiscale, mechanistic modeling of Cesium transport in Silicon Carbide for TRISO fuel performance prediction
Understanding cesium (Cs) transport in TRistructural ISOtropic (TRISO) particle fuel is crucial for predicting fission product release in high-temperature reactors. However, current challenges include significant scatter in diffusivity data and unexplained temperature-dependent diffusion regimes in the silicon carbide layer. This study addresses these challenges by developing a multiscale, mechanistic Cs transport model integrating atomistic simulations […]
Bayesian Analysis of TRISO Fuel: Quantifying Model Inadequacy, Incorporating Lower-Length-Scale Effects, and Developing Parallel Active Learning Capabilities
The \ac{doe}’s \ac{neams} program aims to develop predictive capabilities by applying computational methods to the analysis and design of advanced reactor and fuel-cycle systems. This program has been providing engineering-scale support for the continued development of BISON, a high-fidelity, high-resolution fuel performance tool. Fuel behavior in nuclear reactors is governed by a complex network of […]