Thermophysical properties of spark plasma sintered UCo: a comparison with machine learning predictions

Abstract

Uranium dioxide has been widely used as a nuclear fuel in commercial light water reactors due to its high uranium density and chemical stability. However, its relatively low thermal conductivity is not optimal from the viewpoints of fuel integrity and safety margins, particularly during loss-of-coolant accidents. Although the development of accident-tolerant fuels with higher thermal conductivity is strongly desired, many potential uranium compounds remain unexplored due to constraints associated with handling radioactive materials. To efficiently screen promising uranium compounds with high thermal conductivity, past studies have leveraged machine-learning models to accelerate the discovery process. In this study, we experimentally examine the model's predictions by fabricating UCo and measuring its high-temperature thermophysical properties. Our results show that the thermal conductivity of UCo predicted by machine learning is in good agreement with the experimental measurements. Despite slight discrepancies, additional SHAP analysis suggests that the model's decision logic is consistent with known physical trends. Overall, this study fills a gap in reported thermophysical properties of UCo and provides experimental support for machine-learning-assisted screening of uranium compounds relevant to advanced fuel development.