Cladding corrosion and hydriding in irradiated defected Zircaloy fuel rods

Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1989 · Corrosion (Houston); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5006/1.3585019· OSTI ID:6665668

Clayton, J C ^[1]

---

1. Westinghouse Electric Corp., West Mifflin, PA (USA). Bettis Atomic Power Lab.

Twenty-one LWBR irradiation test rods containing ThO{sub 2}-UO{sub 2} fuel and Zircaloy cladding with holes or cracks have operated successfully. The irradiation tests were performed in the Engineering test Reactor (ETR) and the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and in the National Research Experimental Reactor (NRX) located at Chalk River. Zircaloy cladding corrosion on the inside and outside diameter (ID and OD) surfaces and hydrogen pickup in the cladding were measured. The observed OD Zircaloy corrosion oxide thicknesses of the test rods were similar to thicknesses measured for nondefected irradiation test rods. An analysis model gave results that a were in reasonable agreement with the OD oxide thicknesses both of defected and non-defected rods. When the analysis procedure was modified to account for additional corrosion proportional to fission rate, the calculated values agreed well with measured ID oxide corrosion film values of defected rods. Hydrogen pickup in the defected rods was not directly proportional to local corrosion oxide weight gain as was the case for nondefected rods.

• OSTI ID: 6665668
• Journal Information: Corrosion (Houston); (USA), Journal Name: Corrosion (Houston); (USA) Vol. 45:12; ISSN 0010-9312; ISSN CORRA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500* -- Power Reactors
Breeding
220600 -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360105 -- Metals & Alloys-- Corrosion & Erosion
360106 -- Metals & Alloys-- Radiation Effects
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
ALLOYS
BREEDER REACTORS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CORROSION
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL RODS
FUEL-CLADDING INTERACTIONS
IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY
LWBR TYPE REACTORS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
RADIATION EFFECTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
TESTING
THERMAL REACTORS
THORIUM COMPOUNDS
THORIUM OXIDES
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
URANIUM OXIDES
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
ZIRCALOY
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS
ZIRCONIUM BASE ALLOYS