M-PRISM research
Multi-physics modeling of fission-product precipitates in UO₂ fuel
Multi-Physics Modeling of Fission-Product Metallic Precipitates in UO₂ Fuel
Linking reactor neutronics to how irradiated fuel changes at the microstructure scale.
In collaboration with Politecnico di Milano, we link reactor neutronics to fuel microstructure. OpenMC depletion models of an AP1000 fuel pellet and a 17×17 assembly provide burnup-dependent isotopic inventories, fission rates and temperature profiles that feed fuel-performance models of the formation and evolution of metallic fission-product precipitates in irradiated UO₂ fuel.
Current theses extend this chain. One models how the precipitates nucleate, grow, and dissolve again in the open-source SCIANTIX code, calibrated on measured particles across an irradiated pellet. Another tests how the stiffness of the inclusions changes stress and cracking in the pellet.
