Analysis of UO2-BEO fuel under transient using fuel performance code

• Autor(a) principal: GOMES, DANIEL S.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: ABE, ALFREDO Y., MUNIZ, RAFAEL O.R., GIOVEDI, CLAUDIA, INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
• Tipo de documento: Artigo de conferência
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do IPEN
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/28184
• topic: aluminium alloys; beryllium oxides; chromium alloys; composite materials; computerized simulation; coupling; f codes; fuel rods; iron alloys; mechanical properties; nuclear fuels; thermodynamic properties; transients; uranium dioxide; zirconium

Recent research has appointed the need to replace the classic fuel concept, used in light water reactors. Uranium dioxide has a weak point due to the low thermal conductivity, that produce high temperatures on the fuel. The ceramic composite fuel formed of uranium dioxide (UO2), with the addition of beryllium oxide (BeO), presents high thermal conductivity compared with UO2. The oxidation of zirconium generates hydrogen gas that can create a detonation condition. One of the preferred options are the ferritic alloys formed of iron-chromium and aluminum (FeCrAl), that should avoid the hydrogen release due to oxidation. In general, the FeCrAl alloys containing 10???20Cr, 3???5Al, and 0???0.12Y in weight percent. The FeCrAl alloys should exhibit a slow oxidation kinetics due to chemical composition. Resistance to oxidation in the presence of steam is improved as a function of the content of chromium and aluminum. In this way, the thermal and mechanical properties of the UO2-BeO-10%vol, composite fuel were coupled with FeCrAl alloys and added to the fuel codes. In this work, we examine the fuel rod behavior of UO2-10%vol-BeO/FeCrAl, including a simulated transient of reactivity. The fuels behavior shown reduced temperature with UO2-BeO/Zr, UO2-BeO/FeCrAl also were compared with UO2/Zr system. The case reactivity initiated accident analyzed, reproducing the fuel rod called VA-1 using UO2/Zr alloys and compared with UO2-BeO/FeCrAl.