Large-scale demonstration of barrier fuel in the Quad Cities Unit 2 Nuclear Power Station

Technical Report · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5145248

Rowland, T C; Paustian, H H; Rosenbaum, H S; Furtado, D T; Thompson, J R; Wood, J E

LWR nuclear fuel is susceptible to pellet cladding interaction (PCI) failures when subjected to fast power increases at moderate to high exposures. Zirconium barrier fuel was invented as a material solution to the PCI failure problem. This report describes the results of large-scale demonstrations of Zr-barrier fuel in the Quad Cities Unit 2 reactor. The demonstrations involved fast power increases on 16 bundles caused by stepwise (6 pulls) withdrawal of adjacent control blades. The first demonstration was performed in March 1983 at approximately 6 GWd/MTU and the fuel was subjected to power increases of up to 10 kW/ft to peak power levels of 12.6 kW/ft. The second demonstration was completed in March 1985 at an exposure of about 15 GWd/MTU. Peak power levels up to 13.7 kW/ft were achieved. All the ramped fuel was sound, both from plant offgas measurements and by fuel sipping.

• Research Organization: General Electric Co., San Jose, CA (USA). Nuclear Energy Business Operations
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-77ET34001
• OSTI ID: 5145248
• Report Number(s): NEDO-30967; ON: DE85016089
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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