SUMMARY

Although commonly used during nuclear power's infancy, metallic alloy fuels have not received much study into their most fundamental material characteristics due to the lack of modelling abilities during that time and the shift to focus on oxide fuels used in current reactors. With the advanced reactors being developed, metallic alloy fuels such as uranium-zirconium are being strongly considered for several material properties. But first, fundamental properties like the vacancy formation energy must be cataloged. Using modified embedded atom method in LAMMPS, the vacancy formation energy of various uranium-zirconium alloys will be determined, allowing study and simulation into their more complex characteristics.