Abstract
The focus of the present thesis is the determination of the elastic properties of nuclear fuel using high frequency acoustic microscopy. The nuclear fuel is considered under three different conditions: during its normal life in reactor, after its discharge and disposal in interim or long-term storage and subsequently to its severe degradation caused by a nuclear accident. Measurements performed on irradiated fuels allowed to validate a law between the density of fresh and irradiated fuel and the Rayleigh wave velocity; the determination of the irradiated fuel porosity and matrix swelling in the broad burnup range 0-100 GWdt-1M; the development of an empirical model capable of predicting the evolution of Young's modulus versus burnup correcting also for the additives content (Gd2O3, CeO2); Young's modulus evolution due to alpha-decay damage as in-storage condition; first corium measurements. Moreover, several UO2 thermal parameters were calculated only by means of the Rayleigh wave velocity thanks to the link between thermal and elastic properties.