ON THE THERMAL-CONDUCTIVITY AND DIFFUSIVITY OF SOLID AND LIQUID URANIUM-DIOXIDE

For a long time, the large discrepancy between the various measurements of the thermal conductivity, k, of liquid UO2 has represented an insoluble difficulty. The recent experimental determination of the heat capacity of this material, at temperatures from 2500 K to above the melting point, makes it possible to evaluate the heat diffusivity, alpha, in this temperature range. A discussion of the dependence of alpha on temperature indicates that the lowest measured value of k is the right one.