Fuel/cladding compatibility in high-burnup U-19 Pu-10 Zr/HT-9 clad fuel at elevated temperatures

Conference · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)

OSTI ID:6982511

Cohen, A B; Tsai, H; Sanecki, J E; Neimark, L A ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

The U-Pu-Zr metallic fuel in the integral fast reactor may interact chemically with the steel cladding at elevated temperatures, leading to a thinning of the cladding and eventual pin failure. Also, as a result of the fuel/cladding chemical interaction (FCCI), iron may diffuse into the fuel and form a lower melting phase with uranium and plutonium. If the temperature is raised above the solidus temperature of this phase, the fuel can undergo liquefaction, i.e., the formation of a mixture of liquid and solid phases, that may promote further cladding interaction. Fuel/cladding chemical interaction, therefore, is a complex phenomenon on both sides of the fuel/cladding interface that depends on fuel and cladding compositions, linear power rating, burnup, and cladding temperature. The purpose of this study was to determine the temperature at which the fuel/cladding interaction region forms solid-plus-liquid phases above the normal in-reactor operating temperatures of high-burnup (11 at.%) Mark V-type fuel for the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II). The Mark V fuel is being developed as a future driver fuel for the reactor. The effect of this solid-plus-liquid mixture on the kinetics and mechanism of FCCI was also investigated. This paper updates results previously reported for lower-burnup Mark V-type fuel elements.

• OSTI ID: 6982511
• Report Number(s): CONF-921102-; CODEN: TANSAO
• Journal Information: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 66; Conference: Joint American Nuclear Society (ANS)/European Nuclear Society (ENS) international meeting on fifty years of controlled nuclear chain reaction: past, present, and future, Chicago, IL (United States), 15-20 Nov 1992; ISSN 0003-018X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
EBR-2 REACTOR
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL-CLADDING INTERACTIONS
BURNUP
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENT FAILURE
IFR REACTOR
MELTING
NUCLEAR FUELS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PHASE STUDIES
PLUTONIUM
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
URANIUM
ZIRCONIUM
ACCIDENTS
ACTINIDES
BREEDER REACTORS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FUELS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
MATERIALS
METALS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
POWER REACTORS
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SODIUM COOLED REACTORS
TESTING
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
ZERO POWER REACTORS
220600* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors