Critical heat flux impact due to cladding surface condition
- Westinghouse Electric Company, Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (United States)
- Westinghouse Electric Company, Hopkins, SC 29061 (United States)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nuclear Science and Engineering Dept., Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
This paper demonstrates how the cladding surface condition can impact fuel rod heat transfer and critical heat flux (CHF) performance at Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) type conditions. The cladding surface that is investigated here is a surface with a crud deposit similar to ones observed in a PWR reactor. Tests are performed in the Westinghouse WALT (Westinghouse Advanced Loop Tester) loop test facility where a single ZIRLO clad electrically heated rod with approximately one-foot length is tested at PWR thermal hydraulic conditions and chemistry. Tests are performed for a normal clean rod surface, an oxide surface and with CRUD deposits to investigate the impact on fuel rod heat transfer and CHF performance. The CRUD deposit is characterized for thickness, chimney size and porosity. Test results are presented for the different cladding surface conditions along with comparisons to evaluations performed in the literature for different surfaces at pool boiling conditions. The results indicate that the WALT loop test facility can produce CHF test results which are repeatable for the same heater rod and for different rods with the same surface condition. CHF test results for a ZIRLO cladding surface with a CRUD deposit near 20 microns typical of PWR deposits show similar CHF performance to clean rod surfaces. A noticeable increase in CHF performance was observed for a ZIRLO cladding surface with a thermal oxide layer based on one CHF measurement.
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society - ANS, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22764067
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: TOP FUEL 2016: LWR fuels with enhanced safety and performance, Boise, ID (United States), 11-15 Sep 2016; Other Information: Country of input: France; 11 refs.; Related Information: In: TOP FUEL 2016 Proceedings| 1670 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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