Behavior of Zr1%Nb Fuel Cladding under Accident Conditions
- Hungarian Academy of Sciences KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute H-1525 Budapest P.O.B. 49 (Hungary)
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements P.O.B. 2340, D-76125 Karlsruhe (Germany)
The behavior of the VVER fuel (E110) cladding under accident conditions has been investigated at the AEKI in order to study the role of oxidation and hydrogen uptake on the cladding embrittlement and to understand the phenomena that took place during the Paks-2 cleaning tank incident (2003). The test programme covered small scale tests and large scale tests with electrically heated 7-rod bundles in the CODEX (Core Degradation Experiment) facility. Since a hydrogen rich atmosphere could have been formed in the closed tank, the experiments were carried out in hydrogen-steam mixture. According to the results of the small scale tests, a former correlation for the ductile-brittle transitions of E110 in pure steam remained valid in hydrogen rich steam atmosphere as well. During the large scale tests the main conditions of the incident were reconstructed. The test characterized the high temperature oxidation and embrittlement of zirconium in hydrogen rich steam. The observed cladding failure phenomena and the extent of the damage of the test bundle in the quenching phase were very similar to those of the VVER assemblies in the incident. The simulation of the cleaning tank incident provided detailed information on the most probable scenario of the incident. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21229320
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2007 LWR Fuel Performance Meeting / TopFuel 2007, San Francisco, CA (United States), 30 Sep - 3 Oct 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France; 9 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2007 LWR Fuel Performance Meeting / TopFuel 2007 'Zero by 2010', 683 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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