Thermodynamic Modelling of the Uranium-Carbon-Oxygen System in the Frame of the Uranium Oxide and Carbon Interaction in the TRISO Fuel Particle of High Temperature Reactor

A thermodynamic approach is necessary in order to predict and understand physico-chemical phenomena occurring in nuclear materials under irradiation, involving large chemical systems with a lot of elements including both initial nuclides and fission products (FP). In the frame of thermo-chemical studies of the High Temperature Reactors fuel, a first step is to assess the (U-O-C) system in order to understand the interaction between the UO2 kernel and the pyrocarbon layers constituting such a fuel particle. Our model for irradiated oxide fuel, based on Lindemer’s analysis, has been improved by introducing the (U-O-C) model developed by C. Gueneau & al into the SAGE code. Chemical compositions and related carbon oxides pressures of irradiated TRISO fuel particles have been calculated with the data published by Minato & al. We discuss our results by comparison with their thermochemical calculations and with their experimental observations. This approach can be used to predict the behaviour of complex nuclear materials, especially for the different kind of fuel materials considered in the frame of Gas Fast Reactors.