Diffusion of oxygen interstitial cluster under strain conditions in U0₂

Understanding oxygen interstitial cluster kinetics in U0₂ material under strain condition is important for radiation damage effect and improvement in nuclear fuel. By means of molecular dynamics, we simulate diffusion phenomena of interstitial cluster composed of two O atoms under 3% strain along <001> axial with different temperatures. The results show that, the diffusion of O interstitial cluster is mainly along the strain direction; higher the temperature, more collisions between O interstitials and lattice atoms and more distance O interstitial cluster diffusion in the same tame interval; using Einstein equation and Arrhenius equation, the diffusion energy is 0.9192 eV. (authors)