The thermal conductivities of granular UO 2 compacts with and without uranium particles were measured to evaluate the thermal performance of vibro-packed granular MOX fuels containing metallic fine particle oxygen getters. The thermal conductivity of the compact with 10 wt% of uranium particles was higher than that of the compact without uranium particles. After heating beyond 1,408 K, the melting point of the uranium particles, the thermal conductivity increased further. The evaluation model for analyzing such phenomena was developed. The model predicted that once the UO 2 compact with uranium particles was exposed to a temperature beyond 1,408 K, the uranium particles should melt and provide interconnecting areas between the UO 2 granules and uranium particles, and between other uranium particles. The resulting increase of the thermal conductivity was reasonably expressed by the effect of necks in the compact on the heat conduction.
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