Investigation of Cladding Thermal Behavior Under Simulated Reflood Conditions

Cole Dunbar, Woo Hyun Jung, Thomas Demo, Michael Corradini, Kumar Sridharan, Hwasung Yeom, Robert Armstrong, David Kamerman, Benjamin Maier, Andrew Hoffman, Raul Rebak

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Cr-coated Zr-alloy and FeCrAl alloy are two of the most promising LWR Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) cladding concepts by virtue of their excellent corrosion resistance at high burnup fuel cycle and oxidation resistance under high temperature accident conditions.A single rod reflood facility is designed and constructed to investigate thermal-hydraulic behavior of these ATF cladding concepts during a simulated loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA).The facility is capable of producing cladding temperatures up to 1200 °C, water subcooling in the range of 0-75 K, and reflood velocities up to 10 cm/s.Moreover, cladding test samples can be oxidized using high temperature steam prior to water reflooding.In this work, stainless steel tubes and surrogate metallic pellets are used to investigate key thermal-hydraulic parameters impacting the reflooding behavior for determining the test matrix of actual ATF claddings in the future.Cladding wall thermal boundary conditions are obtained using inverse heat conduction analysis informed by thermocouple data within the surrogate fuel pellets inside the cladding tube.Reproducibility testing with stainless steel cladding tubes demonstrates the capability of determining quench temperatures and quench front velocities.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023
PublisherAmerican Nuclear Society
Pages3346-3359
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)9780894487934
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023
Event20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023 - Washington, United States
Duration: Aug 20 2023Aug 25 2023

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023

Conference

Conference20th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, NURETH 2023
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWashington
Period08/20/2308/25/23

Keywords

  • Accident Tolerant Fuels
  • LOCA
  • Quench Temperature

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investigation of Cladding Thermal Behavior Under Simulated Reflood Conditions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this