Operational experience with zirconium-barrier fuel during cycle 8 of Quad Cities Unit 2

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6754867

Weinfurter, E B; Furtado, D T

Light water reactor nuclear fuel is susceptible to fuel failures, commonly called pellet cladding interactions (PCI) failures, when subjected to fast power increased at moderate to high burnup (exposure). Operational procedures for General Electric (GE) fuel, known as Preconditioning Interim Operating Management Recommendations (PCIOMRs), require a gradual increase in power above an exposure-dependent power threshold. After operating at high power for a period of time the fuel is considered preconditioned and can be returned to this power without restriction. For GE fuel, PCIOMRs have eliminated most most PCI failures but at a cost in plant capacity factor. Zirconium barrier fuel (barrier fuel) was invented with the objective of completely eliminating both PCI failures and PCI operational restraints. Extensive test reactor and laboratory tests showed that barrier fuel is convincingly more failure resistant than nonbarrier fuel. Confirmation of barrier PCI resistance with full-size bundles in a power reactor was obtained from two large-scale demonstrations of barrier fuel in the Quad Cities Unit 2 Reactor. Based on the success of these demonstrations and the supporting tests which have been reported previously, the PCIOMR limitations that apply to nonbarrier fuel were removed for all barrier fuel. This report describes the operation of Quad Cities Unit 2 reactor in cycle 8, with 72% (524 bundles) of the core being barrier fuel.

• Research Organization: Commonwealth Edison Co., Cordova, IL
• OSTI ID: 6754867
• Report Number(s): CONF-861102-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 53
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210100* -- Power Reactors
Nonbreeding
Light-Water Moderated
Boiling Water Cooled
ACCIDENTS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
DESIGN
ELEMENTS
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENT FAILURE
FUEL MANAGEMENT
FUEL-CLADDING INTERACTIONS
METALS
OPERATION
POWER REACTORS
QUAD CITIES-2 REACTOR
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR CORES
REACTOR OPERATION
REACTOR START-UP
REACTORS
START-UP
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
ZIRCONIUM