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Title: Boiling water reactor fuel behavior at burnup of 26 GWd/tonne U under reactivity-initiated accident conditions

Abstract

Irradiated boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel behavior under reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) conditions was investigated in the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSRR) of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. Short test fuel rods, refabricated from a commercial 7 x 7 type BWR fuel rod at a burnup of 26 GWd/ tonne U, were pulse irradiated in the NSRR under simulated cooled startup RIA conditions of the BWRs. Thermal energy from 230 J/g fuel (55 cal/g fuel) to 410 J/g fuel (98 cal/g fuel) was promptly subjected to the test fuel rods by pulse irradiation within [approximately] 10 ms. The peak fuel enthalpies are believed to be the same as the prompt energy depositions. The test fuel rods demonstrated characteristic behavior of the irradiated fuel rods under the accident conditions, such as enhanced pellet cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) and fission gas release. However, all the fuel rods survived the accident conditions with considerable margins. Simulations by the FRAP-T6 code and fresh fuel rod tests under the same RIA conditions highlighted the burnup effects on the accident fuel performance. The tests and the simulation suggested that the BWR fuel would possibly fail by a cladding burst due to fission gas release during themore » cladding temperature escalation rather than the PCMI under the cold startup RIA conditions of a severe power burst.« less

Authors:
;  [1];  [2]; ;  [1]
  1. Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Ibaraki (Japan). Dept. of Reactor Safety Research
  2. Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Tokyo (Japan)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
6894535
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Nuclear Technology; (United States)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 108:1; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5450
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; 21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS; BWR TYPE REACTORS; FUEL ELEMENT FAILURE; REACTIVITY INSERTIONS; F CODES; FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE; FUEL-CLADDING INTERACTIONS; NSRR REACTOR; SIMULATION; ACCIDENTS; COMPUTER CODES; ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS; HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS; HYDRIDE MODERATED REACTORS; MIXED SPECTRUM REACTORS; POWER REACTORS; PULSED REACTORS; REACTOR ACCIDENTS; REACTORS; RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS; RESEARCH REACTORS; SOLID HOMOGENEOUS REACTORS; THERMAL REACTORS; WATER COOLED REACTORS; WATER MODERATED REACTORS; 220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety; 210100 - Power Reactors, Nonbreeding, Light-Water Moderated, Boiling Water Cooled

Citation Formats

Nakamura, Takehiko, Yoshinaga, Makio, Sobajima, Makoto, Ishijima, Kiyomi, and Fujishiro, Toshio. Boiling water reactor fuel behavior at burnup of 26 GWd/tonne U under reactivity-initiated accident conditions. United States: N. p., 1994. Web.
Nakamura, Takehiko, Yoshinaga, Makio, Sobajima, Makoto, Ishijima, Kiyomi, & Fujishiro, Toshio. Boiling water reactor fuel behavior at burnup of 26 GWd/tonne U under reactivity-initiated accident conditions. United States.
Nakamura, Takehiko, Yoshinaga, Makio, Sobajima, Makoto, Ishijima, Kiyomi, and Fujishiro, Toshio. 1994. "Boiling water reactor fuel behavior at burnup of 26 GWd/tonne U under reactivity-initiated accident conditions". United States.
@article{osti_6894535,
title = {Boiling water reactor fuel behavior at burnup of 26 GWd/tonne U under reactivity-initiated accident conditions},
author = {Nakamura, Takehiko and Yoshinaga, Makio and Sobajima, Makoto and Ishijima, Kiyomi and Fujishiro, Toshio},
abstractNote = {Irradiated boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel behavior under reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) conditions was investigated in the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSRR) of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. Short test fuel rods, refabricated from a commercial 7 x 7 type BWR fuel rod at a burnup of 26 GWd/ tonne U, were pulse irradiated in the NSRR under simulated cooled startup RIA conditions of the BWRs. Thermal energy from 230 J/g fuel (55 cal/g fuel) to 410 J/g fuel (98 cal/g fuel) was promptly subjected to the test fuel rods by pulse irradiation within [approximately] 10 ms. The peak fuel enthalpies are believed to be the same as the prompt energy depositions. The test fuel rods demonstrated characteristic behavior of the irradiated fuel rods under the accident conditions, such as enhanced pellet cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) and fission gas release. However, all the fuel rods survived the accident conditions with considerable margins. Simulations by the FRAP-T6 code and fresh fuel rod tests under the same RIA conditions highlighted the burnup effects on the accident fuel performance. The tests and the simulation suggested that the BWR fuel would possibly fail by a cladding burst due to fission gas release during the cladding temperature escalation rather than the PCMI under the cold startup RIA conditions of a severe power burst.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6894535}, journal = {Nuclear Technology; (United States)},
issn = {0029-5450},
number = ,
volume = 108:1,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994},
month = {Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994}
}