Thermodynamic assessment of the Pd[sbnd]Rh[sbnd]Ru system using calphad and first-principles methods

Abstract

Palladium, rhodium and ruthenium are abundant fission products that form in oxide fuels in nuclear reactors. Under operating conditions, these Platinum-Group Metal (PGM) fission products accumulate in high concentration at the rim of the oxide fuel and mainly precipitate into metallic solid solutions. Their thermochemistry is of significant interest to predict the high temperature chemical interactions between the fuel and the cladding or the possible precipitation of PGM phases in high level nuclear waste glasses.To predict the thermodynamic properties of these PGM fission products, a thermodynamic modeling is being developed on the ternary PdRhRu system using the Calphad method. Because experimental thermodynamic data are scarce, Special Quasirandom Structures coupled with Density Functional Theory methods were used to calculate mixing enthalpy data in the solid solutions. The resulting thermodynamic description based on only binary interaction parameters is in good agreement with the few data on the ternary system.