A Study on the fracture pattern change of high-burnup fuel cladding failed by pellet-cladding mechanical interaction failure under reactivity-initiated accident conditions

Li, F.  ; Mihara, Takeshi  ; Udagawa, Yutaka  

In a part of the reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) simulated tests on high-burnup fuels performed at the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor, the fuel failure caused by pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) led to splitting into upper- and lower-part pieces or even fragmentation of the cladding tube. A massive release of fuel fragments accompanied this fracture pattern change from previously known axial cracks and thus identified as a potential concern in safety evaluation regarding core coolability. Dedicated out-of-pile mechanical tests were performed with unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding specimens to clarify the fracture pattern change conditions. The specimens were pre-hydrided and subjected to loading with axial-to-hoop strain ratios of 0.5-1.25, simulating the effects of hydrogen embrittlement and pellet-cladding mechanical bonding of high-burnup fuels, respectively. The results indicate that higher biaxiality of the loading and lower ductility (failure strain level) assist the fracture pattern change. This study proposes a conservative criterion that a PCMI failure splits the cladding tube into more than two pieces when strain ratio is greater than 0.75 and a concurrent hoop strain 1.7% at the failure instant.