Comparative analysis on base-irradiation behaviors of OS-1 test rod and other BWR-fuel rods subjected to previous NSRR tests

Udagawa, Yutaka  

This presentation reports a computer-code analysis on the base-irradiation behavior of the chromia-and-alumina-doped BWR rod irradiated to 64 GWd/t in Oskarshamn-3, Sweden, and subjected to the reactivity-initiated-accident (RIA) test OS-1, which resulted in a fuel failure due to pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) at the lowest fuel-enthalpy increase in all the BWR tests ever performed. The inverse calculation which utilized post-irradiation examination data as its constraint conditions revealed that the OS-1 rod had very likely experienced more intense PCMI loading due to higher swelling rate during base irradiation than other BWR rods subjected to previous RIA tests and thus had been prone to experience enhanced radial-hydride formation. The significant difference in the PCMI-related parameters between the OS-1 rod and other BWR rods supports the interpretation that enhanced radial-hydrides formation differentiated the PCMI-failure behavior observed in the test OS-1 from the previous BWR-fuel tests.