Thermal Diffusivity of (U,Er)O2 Solid Solutions As a Function of ErO1.5 Content

Thermal conductivity is one of the most important properties of nuclear reactor fuel pellets, as it directly influences the fuel operating temperatures, and the fuel operating temperature directly affects the fuel performance and behaviors such as fission gas release and swelling. A number of studies related to the effects of the addition of burnable poison such as GdO1.5 to the thermal conductivity of UO2 have been published. However, there is no report on the thermal conductivity for an Erdoped UO2 pellet. In this work, thermal diffusivities of near stoichiometric (U1-yEry)O2 solid solutions, 0≤y≤0.1, were determined from room temperature to 1673K