History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back Investigation of Thermal Properties of the Irradiated Uranium-Zirconium Fuel Gaiduchenko A.B. Rozhkov A.V. The article considers the methods and results of research of thermal properties of the irradiated uranium-zirconium fuel in the temperature range from 20 to 1000 °C. This fuel is widely used in the transport reactors and it is also a prospective fuel for use in reactors of «small» nuclear energy. However, despite the extensive experience in operating this fuel, its thermal properties are poorly understood. At the same time, for example, data on the thermal conductivity of the fuel and its degradation under irradiation are of great importance to substantiate the operating modes of the reactor. Instrumentation of measurements and methods of mathematical processing of measurement results are described. It is shown that the thermal properties of uranium-zirconium fuel vary considerably above the phase transition temperature (~ 600 ° C), which must be considered when determining the operating temperature of fuel. It is also shown that the degradation of the thermophysical properties of the fuel increases with the magnitude of his burnup. Keywords: Metal nuclear fuel; thermophysical properties; thermal analysis; differential scanning calorimetry; laser flash technique. Contacts: E-mail: gaiduchenko@irtm.kiae.ru Pp. 80-94.