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Transient analysis of LMFBR oxide fuel elements during accidents. 2. Technical report. Final report, 1 July 1973-30 June 1974

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6278616
A major portion of the research and development program for Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (LMFBR's) is devoted to the behavior of oxide fuel elements. Of particular interest to safety analysis and licensing is the study of transient behavior of these fuel elements under accident conditions. The work reported here centers on (1) understanding the possible location, time, and mode of failure for LMFBR oxide fuel pins during an overpower transient; and (2) understanding the implications of this failure on the course of an unprotected overpower transient accident. The latter involves an attempt at understanding and modelling fuel dynamics internal to the pin, fuel/coolant interactions, fuel sweeping outside the pin and reactivity effects. Rapid heating of the fission gas bubbles in the grain boundary or edge causing separation and subsequent release of the fission gas, especially in the unrestructured fuel zone, is the mechanism that is explored in detail because if true, leads to high axial failures in the fuel pins. The implications of time, location and mode of failure of the fuel pins during a transient overpower accident are addressed. The HOPE code, developed at UCLA by Edmund Rumble for his Ph.D. dissertation, was used in the analysis of SNR-300, the German prototype LMFBR.
Research Organization:
California Univ., Los Angeles (USA). Dept. of Energy and Kinetics
DOE Contract Number:
AM03-76SF00034
OSTI ID:
6278616
Report Number(s):
UCLA-ENG-7468; ON: DE81026920
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English