Cladding burst behavior of Fe-based alloys under LOCA

Journal Article · Thu Dec 17 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Journal of Nuclear Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2015.12.018· OSTI ID:1244189

Terrani, Kurt A. ^[1]; Dryepondt, Sebastien N. ^[1]; Pint, Bruce A. ^[1]; Massey, Caleb P. ^[2]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
2. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States)

Burst behavior of austenitic and ferritic Fe-based alloy tubes has been examined under a simulated large break loss of coolant accident. Specifically, type 304 stainless steel (304SS) and oxidation resistant FeCrAl tubes were studied alongside Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 that are considered reference fuel cladding materials. Following the burst test, characterization of the cladding materials was carried out to gain insights regarding the integral burst behavior. Given the widespread availability of a comprehensive set of thermo-mechanical data at elevated temperatures for 304SS, a modeling framework was implemented to simulate the various processes that affect burst behavior in this Fe-based alloy. The most important conclusion is that cladding ballooning due to creep is negligible for Fe-based alloys. Thus, unlike Zr-based alloys, cladding cross-sectional area remains largely unchanged up to the point of burst. Furthermore, for a given rod internal pressure, the temperature onset of burst in Fe-based alloys appears to be simply a function of the alloy's ultimate tensile strength, particularly at high rod internal pressures.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1244189
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 22590242; OSTI ID: 1396643
• Journal Information: Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Journal Issue: C Vol. 470; ISSN 0022-3115
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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