Accurate analytical evaluation of heat capacity of nuclear fuels using Einstein–Debye approximation

•A new analytical method for calculating the heat capacity of nuclear fuels is introduced.•Such new approximations are important for accurate evaluation of the heat capacity of nuclear fuels in wide range of temperature.•The proposed algorithm is simple to use and allows us to obtain the accurate results.

A new method was developed for heat capacity calculations of nuclear fuels using the convolution between Einstein and Debye approximations. The calculation results permitted an accurate evaluation of the validity of the analytical approximations, as well as further improvements of the theoretical formulas. This analytical method is general for arbitrary values of temperature. The algorithm is used to simulate variation of heat capacities with temperature dependence of the nuclear fuels UO2 and PuO2. Comparison of computed numerical results with the ones obtained by findings using other methods reveals that the proposed approach is reliable, efficient and accurate.