On the issue of Zircaloy ductility during a reactivity-initiated accident
- Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)
During reactor exposure, Zircaloy cladding undergoes various microstructural changes including irradiation damage, oxidation, and hydrogen pick-up. There is a concern that the combination of these changes in high burnup cladding will cause failure during a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) at an energy deposition level significantly lower than that of fresh cladding. In RIA conditions, the cladding must withstand loading at high strain rates and under deformation paths close to transverse plane-strain extension. Thus to assess cladding failure it is necessary to examine the failure mechanism of unirradiated Zircaloy cladding under RIA-like loading conditions. The authors present here a theoretical analysis of a possible failure mode of Zircaloy cladding due to localized necking. The results of the analysis suggest that high-burnup cladding is susceptible to pronounced losses of ductility under a combination of plane strain loading deformation and the presence of thickness imperfections. Such imperfections may be caused by hydride embrittlement of the cladding or non-uniform oxidation such that an axial thickness change is created.
- Research Organization:
- US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 468648
- Report Number(s):
- NUREG/CP-0157-Vol.1; CONF-9610202-Vol.1; ON: TI96014720; CNN: Grant NRC-04-95-068; TRN: 97:008525
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 24. water reactor safety information meeting, Bethesda, MD (United States), 21-23 Oct 1996; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the twenty-fourth water reactor safety information meeting. Volume 1: Plenary session; High burnup fuel; Containment and structural aging; Monteleone, S. [comp.] [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)]; PB: 372 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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