Modification of MELCOR for severe accident analysis of candidate accident tolerant cladding materials
Abstract
A number of materials are currently under development as candidate accident tolerant fuel and cladding for application in the current fleet of commercial light water reactors (LWRs). The safe, reliable and economic operation of the nation’s nuclear power reactor fleet has always been a top priority for the nuclear industry. Continual improvement of technology, including advanced materials and nuclear fuels, remains central to the industry’s success. Enhancing the accident tolerance of light water reactors became a topic of serious discussion following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, resulting tsunami, and subsequent damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex. The overall goal for the development of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) systems for LWRs is to identify alternative fuel system technologies to further enhance the safety, competitiveness, and economics of commercial nuclear power. Designed for use in the current fleet of commercial LWRs, or in reactor concepts with design certifications (GEN-III+), to achieve their goal enhanced ATF must endure loss of active cooling in the reactor core for a considerably longer period of time than the current fuel system, while maintaining or improving performance during normal operation. Many available nuclear fuel performance analysis tools are specifically developed for the currentmore »
- Authors:
-
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1414379
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1415516
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-16-40583
Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5493; PII: S0029549317300808
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nuclear Engineering and Design
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 315; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0029-5493
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; 22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS; accident tolerant fuel; LWR severe accident analysis; MELCOR
Citation Formats
Merrill, Brad J., Bragg-Sitton, Shannon M., and Humrickhouse, Paul W. Modification of MELCOR for severe accident analysis of candidate accident tolerant cladding materials. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.02.021.
Merrill, Brad J., Bragg-Sitton, Shannon M., & Humrickhouse, Paul W. Modification of MELCOR for severe accident analysis of candidate accident tolerant cladding materials. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.02.021
Merrill, Brad J., Bragg-Sitton, Shannon M., and Humrickhouse, Paul W. Tue .
"Modification of MELCOR for severe accident analysis of candidate accident tolerant cladding materials". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.02.021. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1414379.
@article{osti_1414379,
title = {Modification of MELCOR for severe accident analysis of candidate accident tolerant cladding materials},
author = {Merrill, Brad J. and Bragg-Sitton, Shannon M. and Humrickhouse, Paul W.},
abstractNote = {A number of materials are currently under development as candidate accident tolerant fuel and cladding for application in the current fleet of commercial light water reactors (LWRs). The safe, reliable and economic operation of the nation’s nuclear power reactor fleet has always been a top priority for the nuclear industry. Continual improvement of technology, including advanced materials and nuclear fuels, remains central to the industry’s success. Enhancing the accident tolerance of light water reactors became a topic of serious discussion following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, resulting tsunami, and subsequent damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex. The overall goal for the development of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) systems for LWRs is to identify alternative fuel system technologies to further enhance the safety, competitiveness, and economics of commercial nuclear power. Designed for use in the current fleet of commercial LWRs, or in reactor concepts with design certifications (GEN-III+), to achieve their goal enhanced ATF must endure loss of active cooling in the reactor core for a considerably longer period of time than the current fuel system, while maintaining or improving performance during normal operation. Many available nuclear fuel performance analysis tools are specifically developed for the current UO2– Zirconium alloy fuel system. The MELCOR severe-accident analysis code, under development at the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico (SNL-NM) for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), is one of these tools. This article describes modifications made to a version of the MELCOR code by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) that allows its application to alternate fuel-cladding systems. Preliminary analysis results are presented in this paper for candidate silicon carbide and FeCrAl cladding concepts.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.02.021},
journal = {Nuclear Engineering and Design},
number = C,
volume = 315,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Tue Mar 21 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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