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| Program name | Package id | Status | Status date |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFPE/IFA-650.1 & 2 | NEA-1862/01 | Arrived | 12-OCT-2011 |
Machines used:
| Package ID | Orig. computer | Test computer |
|---|---|---|
| NEA-1862/01 | Many Computers |
Moves to high burnup fuel design and introduction of new cladding materials have generated a need to re-examine and verify the validity of the safety criteria for Loss of Coolant Accidents (LOCA). LOCA tests at Halden will be integral in-pile, single rod tests and they will address various LOCA issues. High burnup fuel rods irradiated in commercial reactors will be used.
The test conditions are planned to meet the following primary objectives:
- to maximise the ballooning size to promote fuel relocation and to evaluate its possible effect on the cladding temperature and oxidation.
- to investigate the extent (if any) of - “secondary transient hydriding” - on the inner side of the cladding around the burst region.
The first trial LOCA runs in IFA-650.1 were carried out in May 2003 using a fresh, tight-gap, unpressurised PWR fuel rod with low-tin Zr-4 cladding. Target Peak Cladding Temperatures (PCTs) were in the range from 800°C to 1100°C for the first test. The lower temperature is used because high burnup fuel is not expected to reach higher temperatures in a LOCA. The higher temperature is close to the current LOCA temperature limit prescribed by regulations. In the first experiment the aim was to practice and to qualify the function of the rig and its instrumentation. The rig with its outer loop and blow-down system worked well and the first test series gave a good basis for the further experiments.
Some pre-test calculations were performed by outside laboratories and by the Halden project. The codes used were FRAPTRAN/GENFLO (VTT), TRAC-BF1 (PSI), ALGOR (Halden), SCTEMP (Halden) and FTEMP3 (Halden). The code calculations gave fairly good estimations of the cladding temperatures in the experiments and will be employed in the data evaluation and planning of further tests.
The second trial LOCA test run IFA-650.2 was carried out in May 2004. The main purpose of IFA-650.2 was to practice the test case with ballooning and fuel failure to find out how to run the later experiments with the pre-irradiated rods. The test was carried out using a fresh pressurized PWR rod and low fission power to achieve the desired conditions for ballooning and oxidation. The target peak cladding temperature (PCT) of 1050°C was reached and clad ballooning and rupture occurred at ~800°C.
Keywords: cladding, experimental data, fuels, loss-of-coolant accident, thermal.
