Development of Behavior Analysis Code for MA Transmutation Nitride Fuel in Accelerator-Driven System

Shibata, Hiroki ; Saito, Hiroaki; Hayashi, Hirokazu ; Takano, Masahide 

Partitioning and transmutation of minor actinides techniques have been developed to reduce the radiotoxicity and volume in the high-level radioactive wastes. Minor actinide nitride fuel has been chosen as a candidate for transmutation of long-lived nuclides by accelerator-driven system. Understanding irradiation behavior of nitride fuel is important for its design and development, however, experimental data on irradiation tests of actinide nitrides and these solid solutions are scarce. Recently, in JAEA, nitride fuel performance analysis module based on light water reactor fuel performance code, FEMAXI-7, has been developed to simulate irradiation behavior of the nitride fuel. In this study, performance analysis was carried out focusing on the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI), which was pointed out as the most effective factor for the fuel safety during irradiation. Simulation results show that PCMI does not cause the creep rupture of the cladding.