Title: An investigation of FeCrAl cladding behavior under normal operating and loss of coolant conditions

Journal Article · · Journal of Nuclear Materials
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  1. Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
  2. Politecnico di Milano, Milano (Italy)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys are candidates to be used as nuclear fuel cladding for increased accident tolerance. An analysis of the response of FeCrAl under normal operating and loss of coolant conditions has been performed using fuel performance modeling. In particular, recent information on FeCrAl material properties and phenomena from separate effects tests has been implemented in the BISON fuel performance code and analyses of integral fuel rod behavior with FeCrAl cladding have been performed. BISON simulations included both light water reactor normal operation and loss-of-coolant accidental transients. In order to model fuel rod behavior during accidents, a cladding failure criterion is desirable. For FeCrAl alloys, a failure criterion is developed using recent burst experiments under loss of coolant like conditions. The added material models are utilized to perform comparative studies with Zircaloy-4 under normal operating conditions and oxidizing and non-oxidizing out-of-pile loss of coolant conditions. The results indicate that for all conditions studied, FeCrAl behaves similarly to Zircaloy-4 with the exception of improved oxidation performance. Here, further experiments are required to confirm these observations.

Research Organization:
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC07-05ID14517
OSTI ID:
1357974
Report Number(s):
INL/JOU-16-40643; AF5810000; NEAF278
Journal Information:
Journal of Nuclear Materials, Journal Name: Journal of Nuclear Materials Journal Issue: C Vol. 491; ISSN 0022-3115
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (1)