Thermophysical properties and unexpected viscosity of liquid (U, Zr): An atomistic investigation.

In this study, we performed a numerical investigation of the thermophysical properties of liquid (U, Zr) mixtures, which are particularly relevant in the context of hypothetical nuclear accidents and the formation of in-vessel coriums. To do so, atomistic simulations leveraging classical molecular dynamics and an interatomic potential developed for solid (U, Zr) structures are performed. Our methodology is first validated by comparing the predictions of our model for the melting temperature and the structure factors to experimental, phase diagram, and ab initio data.