CALCULATION OF THE SAFE LIFE TIME EXPECTANCY OF ZIRCONIUM ALLOY CANNING IN THE FUEL ELEMENTS OF THE NERO REACTOR

Technical Report · Thu Jul 15 00:00:00 EDT 1965

OSTI ID:4572669

van der Linde, A

Based on the present day knowledge of the oxidation and hydridation behaviour of Zirconium alloys under PWR conditions, a calculation of the safe life time expectancy of Zirconium alloy canning in the fuel elements of the NERO reactor is presented. The decisive NERO conditions for life time calculations are a heat flow of 100 W/cm {sup 2} and a temperature of 345 deg C at the oxide-water surface. The calculations take account of the increase in oxidation rate under the influence of the heat flow and of the distribution of absorbed hydrogen in the canning wall in the radial direction. The maximum tolerable oxide or oxide + hydride layer thickness, on Zirconium alloy canning tubes was fixed at 35 {mu}. The calculated data led to the conclusion that from the corrosion point of view, the safe life time of Zirconium alloy canning tubes, having a wall thickness of 0.85 mm, operating under NERO conditions is 2.40 years for Zircaloy-2, 3.40 years for Zr-2% Nb and Zr-3% Sn, and 3.60 years for Zircaloy-4. (auth)

• Research Organization: Reactor Centrum Nederland, Petten (Netherlands)
• NSA Number: NSA-20-007519
• OSTI ID: 4572669
• Report Number(s): RCN-41
• Country of Publication: Netherlands
• Language: English

Related Subjects

CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COATING
CORROSION
Corrosion
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAMMA RADIATION
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDROGEN
LAYERS
METALS, CERAMICS, AND OTHER MATERIALS
NEUTRONS
NIOBIUM ALLOYS
NUMERICALS
OXIDATION
RADIATION EFFECTS
THICKNESS
TIN ALLOYS
ZIRCALOY
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS