Simple Adaptations to Standing Thermal Conductivity Models for Uranium Dioxide Considering Recent Work

Abstract

The thermal conductivity of nuclear fuels is an essential property to determining the safety of a fission reactor. For uranium dioxide, UO₂, several semi-empirical models for thermal conductivity which reflect experimental data exist, with these models being relied on in industry and academia. Recent work calls into question the methodology used in such experiments and presents a first principles approach to determining thermal conductivity. Simple corrections to existing models are proposed in this paper to model this change.