Behavior of High Burn-up Fuel Cladding under LOCA Conditions

LOCA-simulated experiments were performed with MDA, ZIRLOTM, M5[R], NDA, and Zircaloy-2 cladding specimens with local burn-ups ranging from 66 to 76 MWd/kg. Short test rods fabricated with the cladding specimens were heated, isothermally oxidized at 1,459 to 1,480 K in steam flow, and finally quench...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nuclear science and technology 2009-07, Vol.46 (7), p.763
Main Authors: NAGASE, Fumihisa, CHUTO, Toshinori, FUKETA, Toyoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alloys
Boundaries
Cladding
Fuel consumption
Nuclear engineering
Nuclear power generation
Nuclear reactor components
Rods
Steam flow
Zirconium base alloys
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:LOCA-simulated experiments were performed with MDA, ZIRLOTM, M5[R], NDA, and Zircaloy-2 cladding specimens with local burn-ups ranging from 66 to 76 MWd/kg. Short test rods fabricated with the cladding specimens were heated, isothermally oxidized at 1,459 to 1,480 K in steam flow, and finally quenched in flooding water. Rod rupture and subsequent double-sided oxidation of the cladding were also simulated in the experiments. Neither split-fracture nor fragmentation occurred during the quench in the cladding specimens which were oxidized to about 18-27% of the metallic thickness. Accordingly, the fracture boundary, a most important safety issue, is not reduced significantly by the high burn-up and use of the new alloys within the examined scope, although it may be somewhat reduced with pre-hydriding during the reactor operation as observed in unirradiated specimens.
ISSN:0022-3131
1881-1248
DOI:10.3327/jnst.46.763