Thermal conductivity of U-20Â wt.%Pu-2Â wt.%Am-10Â wt.%Zr alloy

The authors fabricated U-20 wt.%Pu-2 wt.%Am-10 wt.%Zr alloys and evaluated the heat capacity and thermal conductivity. The heat capacity was measured between 335 and 827 K by a drop calorimetry. The thermal diffusivity was measured between 300 and 1073 K by a laser flash method. The thermal conductivity was evaluated from the measured thermal diffusivity and heat capacity. The thermal conductivity of U-20 wt.%Pu-2 wt.%Am-10 wt.%Zr alloy was slightly higher than literature values of U-Pu-Zr and U-Pu-MA-Zr alloys. The thermal conductivity was formulated for use in practical design for Generation IV fast reactors.