Numerical Calculation on Thermal Expansion Of UO2 – 3 Vol% Mo Microplate Pellet

UO2 – 3 vol% Mo microplate pellets in which micro-scale metal Mo plates radially arrange in the pellet have been successfully fabricated with high radial thermal conductivity. As the Mo microplates are arranged with the radial direction, the radial thermal conductivity may be further increased, but the anisotropic properties of thermal expansion may be revealed. Herein, we numerically investigated the thermal expansion of UO2 – 3 vol% Mo microplate pellets. After we calculated that the stress distribution of the UO2 – 3 vol% Mo microplate pellets under LHGR of 200 W/cm. As a results, enhanced radial thermal conductivity of the fuel pellet decreases the temperature gradient of the pellets and mitigates maximum hoop stress by thermal expansion.