Solutions of some transport problems in molecular and phonon transport

Abstract

Nuclear reactor fuel undergoes vast changes during its lifetime. The fuel generates heat energy while simultaneously suffering neutron bombardments and swelling/rupture due to fission product/gas migration, aggregation and buildup. Ingenious analyses, advances in materials processing, and design and testing have permitted the attainment of significant burn-ups (~ 33 GWd/MT). Problems associated with nuclear proliferation due to national/international political instabilities, dictate the need for new nuclear fuel analyses and designs that would lead to high (~65 GWd/MT) and ultra high (~100 GWd/MT) burn-ups. While such burn-ups have been achieved in some test fuels, the utilization of new fuels in commercial reactors have been fraught with several unanticipated practical difficulties.