Investigation of clad ballooning during NSRR RIA tests using ALCYONE fuel performance code

ALCYONE simulations of integral RIA transients performed on UO2 fuel rods prior to or within the ALPS program in the Japanese NSRR facility with stagnant liquid water coolant conditions are presented in this paper. The 11 selected tests which cover a wide range of fuel enthalpy increases (200 J/g –...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nuclear materials 2022-04, Vol.562, p.153584, Article 153584
Main Authors: Guénot-Delahaie, Isabelle, Sercombe, Jérôme, Fédérici, Éric, Bernaudat, Christian, Largenton, Rodrigue, Haller, Xavier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ALCYONE code
Axial flow
Clad ballooning
Computer Science
Coolants
Engineering Sciences
Enthalpy
FGR
Film boiling
Film boiling duration
Fission
Gas axial flow
Heat exchange
Heat transfer
Hoops
Internal pressure
Mechanics
Mechanics of materials
Modeling and Simulation
Modelling
NSRR
Nuclear fuel elements
PWR
RIA
Uranium dioxide
Water
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:ALCYONE simulations of integral RIA transients performed on UO2 fuel rods prior to or within the ALPS program in the Japanese NSRR facility with stagnant liquid water coolant conditions are presented in this paper. The 11 selected tests which cover a wide range of fuel enthalpy increases (200 J/g – 800 J/g) aimed at assessing/challenging ALCYONE capabilities on four quantities of interest: clad outer surface peak temperature (293 K – 1200 K), film boiling duration (0 s – 2 s), clad residual hoop strain (0% – 25%) and transient fission gas release (2% – 25%). Despite a global consistency between measurements and ALCYONE predictions, paths are investigated to explain and reduce discrepancies. In particular, the reevaluation of fuel enthalpies by JAEA has led to revisit ALCYONE clad-to-water coolant heat exchange models which were derived from previous values of fuel enthalpies and suggested a recalibration of some of their parameters. Then, modeling the delayed gas axial flow in the free volumes of the rod is shown essential to achieve better residual hoop strain predictions in case of clad ballooning if proper timing of fission gas release, rod internal pressure increase and clad temperature elevation can be simulated. Key experimental and/or modeling research areas are shown to be at stake for future work.
ISSN:0022-3115
1873-4820
DOI:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2022.153584