DOE/LANL Jurisdiction Fire Danger Rating:
  1. LANL Home
  2. Media
  3. Newsletters
  4. STE Highlights
July 31, 2025

What happens to uranium dioxide when it is doped?

Helping to squeeze more power out of reactors

Feature Uranium Dioxide
Schematic of the model workflow. Data from lower-length scale simulations inform the mechanistic creep model, which is used to train a neural network surrogate. This surrogate model is then integrated into the Bison fuel performance code. Credit to: Conor Galvin, Los Alamos National Laboratory

A new model from Los Alamos and Idaho national laboratories can predict how uranium dioxide fuel that’s been modified with additives might undergo changes in light-water reactors.

Positive changes, like reducing stress on the cladding and providing additional margin, bring potential opportunities to operate nuclear reactors more effectively to meet rising electricity demands.

Paper describing mechanistic model development

Why this matters: Increasingly, fuel manufacturers are using dopants to modify uranium dioxide fuel pellets to improve performance under normal reactor operations and accident conditions. Using this new model, researchers can delve into the relationship between microstructure and mechanical deformation, which will support efforts to confirm the benefits of the fuel. 

Key points: 

  • One goal of the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation program is to develop detailed physics-based tools to model fuel performance.
  • This new model, using an artificial neural network, was compared with a fully empirical model for fuel performance and demonstrated improved predictive accuracy when validated against real reactor data.
  • This research leverages the Laboratory’s expertise in lower-length scale simulations and nuclear fuel modeling to develop state-of-the-art models for describing fuel behavior across a range of conditions.

Funding: DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulations program

Related: Technical paper showing implementation of mechanistic model for fuel performance

LA-UR-25-27361

Share

Stay up to date
Subscribe to Stay Informed of Recent Science, Technology and Engineering Highlights from LANL
Subscribe Now

More STE Highlights Stories

STE Highlights Homearrow_forward

Proton radiography team receives NNSA Defense Programs Award of Excellence

Plutonium experiments support the nation’s nuclear weapons program

Overcoming reciprocity, Los Alamos scientists open new ways to control light

Potential applications range from thermal radiation and photonic devices to quantum science

Plague can kill: Los Alamos scientists found a rapid way to test people and pets

Accuracy increased when scientists used fat molecules to detect illness-causing bacteria

Los Alamos scientist tapped for national nuclear data leadership role

Position enables Kelly to shape national nuclear data research priorities and funding directions

Can’t see through the muck? Try this patented imaging device

Acoustic Camera creates 3D images where conventional cameras can’t see

Physicists use D-Wave chip to study quantum effects

How quantum tunneling helps magnets choose a state

Los Alamos National Laboratory

P.O. Box 1663

Los Alamos, NM 87545

(505) 667-5061

At The Lab

  • Business Opportunities
  • Jobs
  • Organizations
  • Research Library
  • User Facilities

Information

  • Emergency
  • Ombuds
  • Reading Room
  • Resources
  • Science Museum

For Employees

  • AskIT
  • LANLInside
  • MyMail
  • Training
DOE White Seal
  • Terms of Use/Privacy

Managed by Triad National Security, LLC for the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s NNSA

Copyright 2026 Triad National Security, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Learn about the Department of Energy’s Vulnerability Disclosure Program