A summary of recent progress in materials chemistry involved in the synthesis and performance of advanced nuclear fuels, as well as their disposal to increase the safety and efficiency of the nuclear energy sector will be presented. Utilization of wet-chemical, innovative synthesis approaches in combination with a wide range of characterization tools, facilitate a better understanding of the structure-property relationships of advanced nuclear fuel and its waste forms. This knowledge is applied to tailor and fine-tune materials with targeted functionality that relies on a well-defined set of physical properties. Such approach enables to fabricate a large variety of feedstock for high-performance nuclear fuels for current and future reactor types (LWRs, SMRs, HTGRs), while suppressing airborne radioactive particles. Several classes of materials will be discussed, including complex oxides as potential nuclear waste forms that have received an increased focus of attention due their unconventional response to radiation damage enabling to study their order/disorder transition which is heterogeneous across different length scales. In addition, examining the extent and mechanism by which structural defects in UO<sub>2</sub> pellets affect thermal conductivity provides a step forward in developing a thorough understanding of heat transfer in nuclear fuel under real reactor conditions. The systematic understanding of the role of defects as well as dopants such as Mn, Cr towards the enhanced performance and safety of high-performance fuel will be discussed. Besides novel fuels, the research aimed to advance the current state of the art for nuclear waste management will be discussed. Ongoing efforts at UCI are supported by the recently established cluster of nuclear chemistry laboratories in combination with the TRIGA reactor and characterization facilities and will be briefly introduced.

Nuclear chemistry revival by design – new activities at UC Irvine

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.