Structures and Properties of Fluorite-related Systems for Nuclear Applications

Rising global energy demand and the adverse environmental impact of fossil fuel energy has led to a growing interest in nuclear power. Novel materials and approaches are needed to foster the use of safe nuclear energy in a manner consistent with the goals of proliferation resistance, energy security, and waste reduction. Traditionally, materials science links structures and properties. This association is particularly relevant in oxides with fluorite-related structures. Oxides with a fluorite-related structure often exhibit some of the lowest thermal conductivities, highest ionic conductivities, and best radiation stabilities ever measured. These properties are relevant for nuclear applications as the effects of substitutions and disorder have drastic consequences on many properties, including high radiation stability for nuclear fuels and waste forms, coatings (thermal barriers), and high ionic conductivity in solid-oxide fuel cells.

This Research Topic aims to establish a state-of-the-art panorama of the fluorite-related materials and models developed by experimentalists and modelers and address the following specific challenges:
• the design of next generation fuels and waste forms
• understanding and predicting the performance of existing materials under extreme operating conditions, including long storage times for the waste of the spent fuels

Manuscripts focused on the following topic areas are of particular interest to this article collection:
• Nuclear materials science challenges and new research directions in fluorite-related systems
• Nuclear fuels
• Inert matrices, and transmutation targets
• Development of ceramic waste forms
• Fundamental mechanisms governing radiation damage in fluorite-related structures
• Radiation response at the nanoscale and mesoscale
• Advances in nuclear fuels characterization