Hierarchical Bayesian modeling to quantify fracture limit uncertainty of high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes under loss-of-coolant accident conditions

成川 隆文; 濱口 修輔*; 高田 孝*; 宇田川 豊

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 411, p.112443_1 - 112443_12, 2023/09

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2023.112443

For realizing a highly reliable fracture limit evaluation of fuel cladding tubes during loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) in light-water reactors, we developed a method to quantify the fracture limit uncertainty of high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes. This method employs a hierarchical Bayesian model that can quantify uncertainty even with limited experimental data. The fracture limit uncertainty was quantified as a probability using the amount of oxidation (Equivalent cladding reacted: ECR) and the initial hydrogen concentration (the hydrogen concentration in the fuel cladding tubes before the LOCA-simulated tests) as explanatory variables. We divided the regression coefficients of this model into a hierarchical structure with an overall average term common to all types of fuel cladding tubes and a term representing differences among various types of fuel cladding tubes. This hierarchical structure enabled us to quantify the fracture limit uncertainty through the effective use of prior knowledge and data, even for high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes with a small number of data points. The fracture limits representing a 5% fracture probability with 95% confidence of the high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes evaluated by the hierarchical Bayesian model were higher than 15% ECR for the initial hydrogen concentrations of up to 700-900 wtppm and restraint loads below 535 N. These fracture limits were comparable to the limit of the unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding tube, indicating that the burnup extension and use of the advanced fuel cladding tubes do not significantly lower the fracture limit of fuel cladding tubes. Further, we proposed a method to reduce the fracture limit uncertainty by using non-binary data, instead of the binary data, depending on the condition of the fuel cladding tube specimens after performing the LOCA-simulated test, thereby increasing the amount of information in the data.

Study on the effect of long-term high temperature irradiation on TRISO fuel

Shaimerdenov, A.*; Gizatulin, S.*; Dyussambayev, D.*; Askerbekov, S.*; 植田 祥平; 相原 純; 柴田 大受; 坂場 成昭

Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 54(8), p.2792 - 2800, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.net.2022.02.026

In the core of the WWR-K reactor, a long-term irradiation of tri-structural isotopic (TRISO)-coated fuel particles (CFPs) with a UO kernel was carried out under normal operating conditions of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). This TRISO fuel was attained at the temperature of 950 to 1,100 C, and the uranium burnup of 9.9% FIMA (fission per initial metal atom) during the irradiation. The release of the gaseous fission product from the fuel was measured in-pile, and its release-to-birth (R/B) ratio was evaluated using the model developed in the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) project. After the irradiation test, fuel compacts were subjected to electric dissociation and nondestructive inspections such as X-ray radiography and gamma spectrometry. Finally, it was concluded that integrity of the TRISO fuel irradiated at approximately 9.9% FIMA was demonstrated, and a low fuel failure fraction and a low R/B measured with krypton-88 indicated good performance and reliability of the high burnup TRISO fuel.

LOCA時燃料破断限界評価の信頼性向上を目指して; 不確かさ定量化手法の開発と高燃焼度化の影響評価

成川 隆文

日本原子力学会誌ATOMO, 63(11), p.780 - 785, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.3327/jaesjb.63.11_780

冷却材喪失事故時の軽水炉燃料被覆管の破断限界評価の信頼性向上を目指した原子力機構の取り組みとして、ベイズ統計手法による不確かさの定量化手法の開発、並びに燃焼の進展及び被覆管材質の変更の影響評価に関する研究を紹介する。

2020年度夏期休暇実習報告; HTTR炉心を用いた原子力電池に関する予備的検討; 核設計のための予備検討,3

石塚 悦男; 満井 渡*; 山本 雄大*; 中川 恭一*; Ho, H. Q.; 石井 俊晃; 濱本 真平; 長住 達; 高松 邦吉; Kenzhina, I.*; et al.

JAEA-Technology 2021-016, 16 Pages, 2021/09

JAEA-Technology-2021-016.pdf:1.8MB

2020年度の夏期休暇実習において、昨年度に引き続きHTTR炉心を原子力電池に見立てた場合の核的な予備検討として、MVP-BURNを用いて炉心の小型化について検討した。この結果、U濃縮度20%、54燃料ブロック(183層)炉心、半径1.6mのBeO反射体を使用すれば5MWで30年の連続運転が可能になることが明らかとなった。この小型炉心の燃料ブロック数は、HTTR炉心の36%に相当する。今後は、更なる小型化を目指して、燃料ブロックの材料を変更したケースについて検討する予定である。

多様な原子燃料の概念と基礎設計,5; 高温ガス炉と溶融塩炉の燃料

植田 祥平; 佐々木 孔英; 有田 裕二*

日本原子力学会誌ATOMO, 63(8), p.615 - 620, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.3327/jaesjb.63.8_615

日本原子力学会誌の連載講座「多様な原子燃料の概念と基礎設計」の第5回として「高温ガス炉と溶融塩炉の燃料」の題目で解説を行う。高温ガス炉の燃料である被覆燃料粒子は、高温ガス炉の高温の熱供給や優れた固有の安全性を支える鍵となる技術の一つである。本稿では高温ガス炉燃料の設計,製造技術,照射性能,実用化並びに高度化開発について述べる。一方、溶融塩炉で用いる溶融塩燃料は燃料自体が液体という特殊なものである。安全性や事故時の環境への影響など優れた性能が期待されているが、まだまだ明らかにすべき課題も多い。その現状について概説する。

Preparation for restarting the high temperature engineering test reactor; Development of utility tool for auto seeking critical control rod position

Ho, H. Q.; 藤本 望*; 濱本 真平; 長住 達; 後藤 実; 石塚 悦男

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 377, p.111161_1 - 111161_9, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2021.111161

At high power operation of the HTTR, the control rod should be kept at the top of the active core for maintaining the optimized power distribution. It is important to calculate the control rod position each time the operating conditions change in order to ensure the safe operation of the reactor. Since the Monte Carlo code cannot change the core geometry such as control rod position during criticality and burnup calculation, the critical control rod position was determined by adjusting the control rods manually. Therefore, this study develops a new utility tool that seeks the control rod position automatically without any further handling procedures and waiting time. As a result, the determination of critical control rod position becomes simpler and the total time was also reduced significantly from about 5 days to less than 2 days. The calculated critical control rod position using the new tool also gives a good agreement with the experiment data.

Benchmarks of depletion and decay heat calculation between MENDEL and MARBLE

横山 賢治; Lahaye, S.*

Proceedings of Joint International Conference on Supercomputing in Nuclear Applications + Monte Carlo 2020 (SNA + MC 2020), p.109 - 116, 2020/10

CEAと原子力機構(JAEA)は、共同研究の枠組みで燃焼・崩壊熱計算のベンチマークを進めている。両機関は核燃料サイクルの分野で着目すべき物理量を計算するのに必要な解析システム(CEAのMENDEL、JAEAのMARBLE)を独立に開発している。両者の結果を比較することで各々のシステムの検証に資することが本ベンチマークの目的である。MENDELは燃焼方程式を解く方法としていくつかの解法を備えている。照射計算に対しては、ルンゲクッタ法やチェビシェフ有理関数近似法(CRAM)を利用することができる。崩壊計算に対しては、解析的な解法も利用できる。MARBLEはクリロフ部分空間法やCRAMを利用することができる。このベンチマークの第1フェーズとして、Pu-239の高速中性子による核分裂後の崩壊熱と原子数密度の計算結果の比較を行った。この計算では、(1)JEFF-3.1.1、(2) JENDL/DDF-2015 + JENDL/FPY-2011、(3) ENDF/B-VII.1の3種類の核データライブラリを適用した。計算に必要な核データや燃焼チェーンは、これらの核データライブラリから、各々のシステムで独立して生成した。両システムの結果は互いにとてもよく一致することを確認した。また、この数値計算結果を実験値とも比較した。現在、ベンチマークの第2フェーズとして、ORLIBJ33で提供されている核データと燃焼チェーンを利用したMENDELとMARBLEの燃焼計算ベンチマークを行っている。なお、ORLIBJ33はJENDL-3.3に基づくORIGEN-2コードシステム用の断面積ライブラリである。このベンチマークでは、ORIGEN-2コードの計算結果とも比較する。ORLIBJ32, ORLIBJ33, ORLIBJ40を含むORLIBは特に日本では長年に亘って広く利用されており、ORLIBを使った比較はMENDLやMARBLEの性能を確認する上でも有効であると考えられる。

Four-point-bend tests on high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes after exposure to simulated LOCA conditions

成川 隆文; 天谷 政樹

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(7), p.782 - 791, 2020/07

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2020.1724207

To evaluate the fracture resistance of high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes during the long-term core cooling period following loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs), laboratory-scale four-point-bend tests were performed using the following advanced fuel cladding tubes with burnups of 73 - 84 GWd/t: low-tin ZIRLO, M5, and Zircaloy-2 (LK3). Three four-point-bend tests were performed on the high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tube specimens subjected to the integral thermal shock tests which simulated LOCA conditions (ballooning and rupture, oxidation in high-temperature steam, and quench). During the four-point-bend tests, all the specimens that were oxidized at 1474 K to 9.9% - 21.5% equivalent cladding reacted exhibited brittle fractures. The maximum bending moments were comparable to those of the conventional Zircaloy cladding tube specimens. Furthermore, the effects of oxidation and hydriding on the maximum bending moment were comparable between the high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tube specimens and the unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding tube specimens. Therefore, it can be concluded that the post-LOCA fracture resistance of fuel cladding tubes is not significantly reduced by extending the burnup to 84 GWd/t and using the advanced fuel cladding tubes, though it may slightly decrease with increasing initial hydrogen concentration in a relatively lower ECR range ( 15%), as observed for the unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding tubes.

Fracture limit of high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes under loss-of-coolant accident conditions

成川 隆文; 天谷 政樹

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(1), p.68 - 78, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1659873

To evaluate the fracture limit of high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tubes under loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) conditions, laboratory-scale integral thermal shock tests were performed using the following advanced fuel cladding tubes with burnups of 73 - 85 GWd/t: M-MDA, low-tin ZIRLO, M5, and Zircaloy-2 (LK3). In total eight integral thermal shock tests were performed for these specimens, simulating LOCA conditions including ballooning and rupture, oxidation, hydriding, and quenching. During the tests, the specimens were oxidized to 10% - 30% equivalent cladding reacted (ECR) at approximately 1473 K and were quenched under axial restraint load of approximately 520 - 530 N. The effects of burnup extension and use of the advanced fuel cladding tubes on the ballooning and rupture, oxidation, and hydriding under LOCA conditions were inconsiderable. Further, the high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tube specimens did not fracture in the ECR values equal to or lower than the fracture limits of the unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding tube reported in previous studies. Therefore, it can be concluded that the fracture limit of fuel cladding tubes is not significantly reduced by extending the burnup to approximately 85 GWd/t and using the advanced fuel cladding tubes, though it slightly decreases with increasing initial hydrogen concentration.

Behavior of high-burnup advanced LWR fuel cladding tubes under LOCA conditions

成川 隆文; 天谷 政樹

Proceedings of International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference / Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference (Global/Top Fuel 2019) (USB Flash Drive), p.912 - 921, 2019/09

To evaluate behavior of high-burnup advanced light-water-reactor fuel cladding tubes under loss-of-coolant accident conditions, laboratory-scale isothermal oxidation tests and integral thermal shock tests were performed using the following advanced fuel cladding tubes with burnups of 73-85 GWd/t: M-MDA, low-tin ZIRLO, M5textregistered, and Zircaloy-2 (LK3). The isothermal oxidation tests were performed in steam-flowing conditions at temperatures ranging from 1173 to 1473 K for durations between 120 and 4000 s. The oxidation kinetics of the high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tube specimens was comparable to or slower than that of the unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding tube and was slower than that given by the Baker-Just oxidation rate equation. Therefore, the oxidation kinetics is considered to be not significantly accelerated by extending the burnup and changing the alloy composition. During the integral thermal shock tests, the high-burnup advanced fuel cladding tube specimens did not fracture under the oxidation condition equivalent to or lower than the fracture limit of the unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding tube. Therefore, the fracture limit of fuel cladding tubes is considered to be not significantly reduced by extending the burnup and changing the alloy composition, though it may slightly decrease with increasing initial hydrogen concentration.