DART Analysis of Irradiation Behavior of U-Mo/Al Dispersion Fuels

DART (Dispersion Analysis Research Tool) is a computational code developed for integrated simulation of the irradiation behavior of aluminum dispersion fuels used in research reactors. The DART computational code uses a mechanistic fission gas behavior model and a set of up-to-date empirical correlations to simulate the fuel morphology change as a function of burnup. Integrating a thermal calculation subroutine enables fuel material properties to be updated at each time step. This paper describes the primary physical models that form the basis of the DART computational code. A baseline validation was performed through the modeling of several U-Mo/Al mini-plate tests (RERTR-6, 7, and 9) in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR). A demonstration problem is also presented through the calculation of fuel plate swelling and constituent volume fractions in full-sized plates from the AFIP-1 test in ATR.