Intragranular Xe bubble population evolution in UO2: A first passage Monte Carlo simulation approach

We introduce a first passage based Monte Carlo [1] code to investigate the population evolution of Xe fission gas bubbles in UO2 fuels. Growth laws are obtained for homogeneous and heterogeneous re-solution models for a wide range of gas and bubble diffusivities. Under certain irradiation conditions, bubble populations find dynamic steady states. Homogeneous re-solution is included using a Monte Carlo binary collision model, while heterogeneous re-solution is modeled as the ad hoc destruction of bubbles.