Focussed ion beam - scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) 3D examination was conducted on three standard UO2 and one Cr doped UO2 high burn-up pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel samples. This work complemented other microanalysis examination, including an electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) work on the polished surface. A parallel article giving the EBSD results was submitted simultaneously. Together, they found, in all the central area of these high burn-up samples: (i) a restructuring of the initial grains into smaller sub-grains forming low angle boundaries and with crystal orientations around that of their parent grains; and (ii) intragranular bubbles mostly situated on these low angle boundaries. The FIB-SEM 3D examination showed how such inter-sub-grain bubbles start as small compact but also small lenticular bubbles, similar to typical small intergranular lenticular bubbles. With increasing burn-up, these lenticular bubbles get thicker and locally interlink to form more complex bubbles. However, no long distance networks, between the sub-grains or between the original grains, were found. Such networks could have been a path for part of the fission gases to reach the grain boundaries, the grain edges (the intersection line of three grain boundaries), and the rod free volumes. These FIB-SEM 3D examinations brought details on the intragranular and intergranular bubbles situation for each studied volume. The distribution of the intragranular bubbles according to their sizes and shapes was exposed. The central restructuring, studied in this work, is likely to play a role in the increase of the fission gas release fractions at high burn-up. This work is an incentive to study further this restructuring and the bubbles formed, combining different approaches.
Skip Nav Destination
Restructuring in high burn-up pressurized water reactor UO2 fuel central parts: Experimental 3D characterization by focused ion beam—scanning electron microscopy
,
,
,
,
,
Article navigation
21 November 2022
Research Article|
November 15 2022
Restructuring in high burn-up pressurized water reactor UO2 fuel central parts: Experimental 3D characterization by focused ion beam—scanning electron microscopy
Available to Purchase
Special Collection:
Radiation Effects in Materials
Jean Noirot
;
Jean Noirot
a)
(Investigation, Methodology, Writing – original draft)
1
CEA, DES, IRESNE, DEC, Cadarache
, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
Search for other works by this author on:
Rébecca Dowek
;
Rébecca Dowek
(Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing)
1
CEA, DES, IRESNE, DEC, Cadarache
, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
2
Institut Matériaux Microélectronique Nanosciences de Provence-IM2NP, UMR CNRS 7334, Aix-Marseille University
, Marseille, France
Search for other works by this author on:
Isabelle Zacharie-Aubrun
;
Isabelle Zacharie-Aubrun
(Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing)
1
CEA, DES, IRESNE, DEC, Cadarache
, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
Search for other works by this author on:
Thierry Blay;
Thierry Blay
(Investigation)
1
CEA, DES, IRESNE, DEC, Cadarache
, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
Search for other works by this author on:
Martiane Cabié
;
Martiane Cabié
(Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
3
Aix Marseille University, CNRS, FSCM, CP2M
, Marseille, France
Search for other works by this author on:
Myriam Dumont
Myriam Dumont
(Supervision, Writing – review & editing)
4
Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology, MSMP, HESAM Université
, F-59000 Lille, France
Search for other works by this author on:
Jean Noirot
1,a)
Rébecca Dowek
1,2
Isabelle Zacharie-Aubrun
1
Thierry Blay
1
Martiane Cabié
3
Myriam Dumont
4
1
CEA, DES, IRESNE, DEC, Cadarache
, F-13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France
2
Institut Matériaux Microélectronique Nanosciences de Provence-IM2NP, UMR CNRS 7334, Aix-Marseille University
, Marseille, France
3
Aix Marseille University, CNRS, FSCM, CP2M
, Marseille, France
4
Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology, MSMP, HESAM Université
, F-59000 Lille, France
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: [email protected]
Note: This paper is part of the Special Topic on Radiation Effects in Materials.
J. Appl. Phys. 132, 195902 (2022)
Article history
Received:
June 22 2022
Accepted:
September 27 2022
Citation
Jean Noirot, Rébecca Dowek, Isabelle Zacharie-Aubrun, Thierry Blay, Martiane Cabié, Myriam Dumont; Restructuring in high burn-up pressurized water reactor UO2 fuel central parts: Experimental 3D characterization by focused ion beam—scanning electron microscopy. J. Appl. Phys. 21 November 2022; 132 (19): 195902. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0105072
Download citation file:
Pay-Per-View Access
$40.00
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
A step-by-step guide to perform x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
Grzegorz Greczynski, Lars Hultman
Tutorial: Simulating modern magnetic material systems in mumax3
Jonas J. Joos, Pedram Bassirian, et al.
Piezoelectric thin films and their applications in MEMS: A review
Jinpeng Liu, Hua Tan, et al.
Related Content
Restructuring in high burn-up UO2 fuels: Experimental characterization by electron backscattered diffraction
J. Appl. Phys. (November 2022)
The focused ion beam as an integrated circuit restructuring tool
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B (January 1986)
Synergism in oxohalates-chromium (III) carbide and Cr systems
AIP Conf. Proc. (November 2022)
Focused ion beam induced deposition of low‐resistivity gold films
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B (November 1989)
Focused ion beam fabrication of submicron gold structures
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B (July 1989)