High-temperature rupture failure of high-burnup LWR-MOX fuel under a reactivity-initiated accident condition

谷口 良徳; 三原 武; 垣内 一雄; 宇田川 豊

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 195, p.110144_1 - 110144_11, 2024/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2023.110144

A reactivity-initiated accident (RIA)-simulated test CN-1 on a high-burnup 64 GWd/t mixed-oxide fuel rod sheathed with M5 cladding was conducted at the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor, resulting in fuel failure. A small opening with slight ballooning deformation characterized the post-test visual appearance of the test fuel rod. Simulation using fuel performance codes FEMAXI-8/RANNS predicted rod survival under early phase loading induced by pellet-cladding mechanical interaction and subsequent boiling transition, and the cladding surface temperature measured online confirmed the occurrence of boiling transition. The experimental observation and simulation indicate that the failure was caused by a high-temperature rupture following increased rod-internal pressure. The RANNS sensitivity analysis revealed that a mechanical state parameter dedicated to predicting plastic instability might be an effective index for evaluating the risk of rupture failure during RIAs.

Fracture-mechanics-based evaluation of failure limit on pre-cracked and hydrided Zircaloy-4 cladding tube under biaxial stress states

Li, F.; 三原 武; 宇田川 豊; 天谷 政樹

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(6), p.633 - 645, 2020/06

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1709996

To better understand the failure limit of fuel cladding during the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI) phase of a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA), pre-cracked and hydrided cladding samples with base metal final heat-treatment status of cold worked (CW) and recrystallized (RX) were tested under biaxial stress conditions (axial to hoop strain ratios of 0 and 0.5). Displacement-controlled biaxial-expansion-due-to-compression (biaxial-EDC) tests were performed to obtain the hoop strain at failure (failure strain) of the samples. The conversion of the failure strains to J-integral at failure by finite-element analysis involving data of stress-relieved (SR) cladding specimens from our previous study revealed that the failure limit in the dimension of J-integral at failure unifies the effects of pre-crack depth. About 30 to 50 percent reduction in the J-integral at failure was observed as the strain ratio increased from 0 to 0.5 irrespective of the annealing type, pre-crack depth, and hydrogen content. the rate of fractional decreases of J-integral at failure with increase of hydrogen content are in the order of CWSRRX, which are essentially independent of strain ratio for the CW and SR samples. The results were incorporated into the failure prediction model of the JAEA's fuel performance code in the form of a correction factor that considers the biaxial loading effect.

The Effect of base irradiation on failure behaviors of UO and chromia-alumina additive fuels under simulated reactivity-initiated accidents; A Comparative analysis with FEMAXI-8

宇田川 豊; 三原 武; 谷口 良徳; 垣内 一雄; 天谷 政樹

Annals of Nuclear Energy, 139, p.107268_1 - 107268_9, 2020/05

AA2019-0372.pdf:0.81MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.107268

This paper 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 cladding hoop-stress more than 50 MPa discriminates the OS-1 rod from other BWR rods and 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.

Behavior of high-burnup advanced LWR fuels under design-basis accident conditions

天谷 政樹; 宇田川 豊; 成川 隆文; 三原 武; 谷口 良徳

Proceedings of 2017 Water Reactor Fuel Performance Meeting (WRFPM 2017) (USB Flash Drive), 10 Pages, 2017/09

JAEA has conducted a research program called ALPS-II program for advanced fuels of LWRs. In this program, the tests simulating a RIA and a LOCA have been performed on the high burnup advanced fuels irradiated in European commercial reactors. The failure limits of the high-burnup advanced fuels under RIA conditions have been obtained by the pulse irradiation tests at the NSRR in JAEA. The information about pellet fragmentation etc. during the pulse irradiations was also obtained from post-test examinations on the test rods after the pulse irradiation tests. As for the simulated LOCA test, integral thermal shock tests and high-temperature oxidation tests have been performed at the RFEF in JAEA. The fracture limits under LOCA and post-LOCA conditions etc. of the high-burnup advanced fuel cladding have been investigated, and it was found that in terms of these materials the fracture boundaries do not decrease and the oxidation does not significantly accelerate in the burnup level examined.

Behavior of irradiated BWR fuel under reactivity-initiated-accident conditions; Results of tests FK-1, -2 and -3

杉山 智之; 中村 武彦; 草ヶ谷 和幸*; 笹島 栄夫; 永瀬 文久; 更田 豊志

JAERI-Research 2003-033, 76 Pages, 2004/01

JAERI-Research-2003-033.pdf:17.46MB

低温起動時の反応度事故(RIA)条件下における燃料挙動を明らかにするため、燃焼度4145GWd/tUの沸騰水型原子炉(BWR)燃料のパルス照射実験を原子炉安全性研究炉(NSRR)において実施した。試験燃料棒は福島第一原子力発電所三号機で用いられたBWR88BJ(STEP I)型セグメント燃料棒を短尺加工したもので、NSRRにおいて約20ms以内の短時間に293607J/g(70145cal/g)の熱量が与えられた。その際、燃料棒被覆管はペレット・被覆管機械的相互作用により高速に変形したが、被覆管の延性が十分高く破損には至らなかった。被覆管周方向の塑性歪は最大部で1.5%に達した。被覆管温度は局所的に最大約600Cに達しており、X線回折測定の結果はパルス照射時の温度上昇により被覆管照射欠陥が回復したことを示していた。パルス照射による核分裂生成ガスの放出割合は、ピーク燃料エンタルピ及び定常運転条件に依存して、3.1%8.2%の値であった。

Phenomenon identification and ranking tables (PIRTs) for rod ejection accidents in pressurized water reactors containing high burnup fuel

Boyack, B. E.*; Motta, A. T.*; Peddicord, K. L.*; Alexander, C. A.*; Deveney, R. C.*; Dunn, B. M.*; 更田 豊志; Higar, K. E.*; Hochreiter, L. E.*; Langenbuch, S.*; et al.

NUREG/CR-6742, 263 Pages, 2001/09

高燃焼度燃料の反応度事故時挙動の問題は、NSRR実験などにおいて、予想を下回る発熱量レベルで燃料破損に至ったことが契機となり、大きな注目を集めることとなった。実験では、破損燃料の微粒子化が観察されたため、冷却可能形状喪失の可能性が問題となっており、我が国では既に原子力安全委員会による評価が行われているが、米国では、事故時制限値改訂が行われようとしており、米国原子力規制委員会(NRC)及び産業界がどれだけの研究を実施すべきか戦略が練られている。このような状況の下でNRCは、現象の抽出と重要度分類を行うPIRT活動を実施した。PIRTの特徴は、重要度分類などの判断を下す際に、構成員による多数決方式を採るところにある。本報告書は、PWRにおける高燃焼度燃料の反応度事故時挙動に関するPIRT活動の結果をまとめたものである。

NSRR実験プログレス・レポート,8; 1979年1月~1979年6月

石川 迪夫

JAERI-M 8779, 75 Pages, 1980/03

JAERI-M-8779.pdf:2.86MB

本報告書は、1979年1月から同年6月までにNSRRにおいて実施した燃料破損実験の結果およびその考察等についてまとめたものである。今期実施した実験は、燃料パラメータ試験(特殊被覆材試験、ギャップガスパラメー夕試験)、冷却材パラメータ試験(強制対流試験、低サブクール強制対流試験)、USNRC燃料試験、欠陥燃料試験(浸水燃料試験)、特殊燃料試験(燃料メルトダウン試験)および高温高圧力プセル試験(特性測定および発熱量較正試験)の総計47回である。