Thermal conductivities of hypostoichiometric (U, Pu, Am)O2−x oxide

Abstract The thermal conductivities of (U 0.68 Pu 0.30 Am 0.02 )O 2.00− x solid solutions ( x = 0.00–0.08) were studied at temperatures from 900 to 1773 K. The thermal conductivities were obtained from the thermal diffusivities measured by the laser flash method. The thermal conductivities obtained experimentally up to about 1400 K could be expressed by a classical phonon transport model, λ = ( A + BT ) −1 , A ( x ) = 3.31 × x + 9.92 × 10 −3 (mK/W) and B ( x ) = (−6.68 × x + 2.46) × 10 −4 (m/W). The experimental A values showed a good agreement with theoretical predictions, but the experimental B values showed not so good agreement with the theoretical ones in the low O/M ratio region. From the comparison of A and B values obtained in this study with the ones of (U,Pu)O 2− x obtained by Duriez et al. [C. Duriez, J.P. Alessandri, T. Gervais, Y. Philipponneau, J. Nucl. Mater. 277 (2000) 143], the addition of Am into (U, Pu)O 2− x gave no significant effect on the O/M dependency of A and B values.