Analytical study of the applicability of FeCrAl-ODS cladding for BWR

Takano, Sho*; Kusagaya, Kazuyuki*; Goto, Daisuke*; Sakamoto, Kan*; Yamashita, Shinichiro   

We focused on one of accident tolerant fuel (ATF) materials, Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Fe-Cr-Al Steel (FeCrAl-ODS). There is a reasonable prospect that FeCrAl-ODS is applied to BWRs, but relatively high neutron absorption should be compensated. To decrease adverse neutron economic impact, thin FeCrAl-ODS cladding was designed, and we evaluated characteristics of a core into which 99 Advanced BWR (ABWR) bundles with thin FeCrAl-ODS claddings were loaded. Thin FeCrAl-ODS water rods and channel boxes were also applied. We confirmed that FeCrAl-ODS core reactivity was sufficient by increasing enrichment of UO fuel under the limit of 5 wt%. Moreover, some representative FeCrAl-ODS core characteristics were comparable to zircaloy core. We also confirmed that fuel thermal-mechanical behaviors of thin FeCrAl-ODS cladding at normal operation and transient conditions were acceptable. These results led to a conclusion that FeCrAl-ODS was applicable to BWR in the analysis range of this study.