Interatomic potentials for mixed oxide (MOX) nuclear fuels
arXiv:1010.0976 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.83.094104
Abstract
We extend our recently developed interatomic potentials for UO_{2} to the mixed oxide fuel system (U,Pu,Np)O_{2}. We do so by fitting against an extensive database of ab initio results as well as to experimental measurements. The applicability of these interactions to a variety of mixed environments beyond the fitting domain is also assessed. The employed formalism makes these potentials applicable across all interatomic distances without the need for any ambiguous splining to the well-established short-range Ziegler-Biersack-Littmark universal pair potential. We therefore expect these to be reliable potentials for carrying out damage simulations (and Molecular Dynamics simulations in general) in nuclear fuels of varying compositions for all relevant atomic collision energies.
References in corpus (5)
- The Effect of Lattice Vibrations on Substitutional Alloy Thermodynamics
- Nature of the 5f states in actinide metals
- Point defects and clustering in uranium dioxide by LSDA+U calculations
- Structural behavior of uranium dioxide under pressure by LSDA+U calculations
- Ab Initio Construction of Interatomic Potentials for Uranium Dioxide Across all Interatomic Distances