Tomoyuki Uwaba

Irradiation Performance of Fast Reactor MOX Fuel Assemblies Irradiated to High Burnups

Mixed oxide fuel assemblies (MFA-1 and MFA-2 assemblies) were irradiated in the fast flux test facility to evaluate the irradiation performance of fast reactor core fuels at high burnups and high fast neutron fluences. The MFA-1 and MFA-2 assemblies achieved respective peak pellet burnups of 147 and 162GWd/t, and resisted to respective peak fast neutron fluences (E > 0:1 MeV) of 21:4 _ 1026 and 23:8 _ 1026 n/m2, without any indication of fuel pin breaching. Structural components of these assemblies were made of modified type 316 stainless steel and 15Cr-20Ni base advanced austenitic stainless steel. Postirradiation examinations of these assemblies revealed dimensional changes of fuel pins and assembly ducts due to irradiation-induced void swelling and irradiation creep, and fuel cladding local oval distortions due to bundle-duct interaction (BDI). The swelling resistance of 15Cr-20Ni base advanced austenitic stainless steel fuel pin cladding was almost the same as that of the modified type 316 stainless steel cladding, while the assembly duct of the former material had a slightly higher swelling resistance than that of the latter material. Analyses of fuel pin bundle deformations indicated that these assemblies likely mitigate BDI mainly by fuel pin bowings and cladding oval distortions.

Evaluation of Creep Damage and Diametral Strain of Fast Reactor MOX Fuel Pins Irradiated to High Burnups

In determining lifetime criteria of fast reactor fuel pins, creep damage due to fission gas pressure was evaluated on mixed-oxide fuel pins with austenitic stainless steel cladding irradiated to high burnups. The degree of creep damage of these fuel pins was expressed as cumulative damage fractions (CDFs), which were defined so that cladding breaching occurs when the CDF exceeds 1.0. The obtained CDFs for typical high-temperature fuel pins were on the order of 10−4–10−2 at the end of irradiation, indicating that these fuel pins had large safety margins against breaching due to creep damage. In order to investigate the factors that govern the lifetime of fuel pins, pin diametral increase and CDF were predicted under extended burnup conditions, and then were compared with their limit values. The predicted pin diametral increase reached its limit value earlier than did the CDF because of a significant increase in the cladding void swelling, suggesting that the lifetimes of fuel pins with austenitic stainless steel cladding are practically governed by the diametral increase rather than by the creep damage.

Investigation of the cause of peculiar irradiation behavior of 9Cr-ODS steel in BOR-60 irradiation tests

Four experimental fuel assemblies (EFAs) containing 9Cr-ODS steel cladding fuel pins were previously irradiated in the BOR-60 to demonstrate the in-reactor performance of 9Cr-ODS steel for use as fuel cladding tubes. One of the EFAs achieved the best data, a peak burn-up of 11.9at% and a neutron dose of 51 dpa, without any microstructure instability or any fuel pin rupture. On the other hand, in another EFA (peak burn-up, 10.5at%; peak neutron dose, 44 dpa), peculiar irradiation behaviors, such as microstructure instability and fuel pin rupture, occurred. Investigations of the cause of these peculiar irradiation behaviors were carried out. The detection sensitivity in an ultrasonic inspection test was shown to be low for the metallic Cr and metallic Fe inclusions. The peculiar microstructure change reappeared with high-temperature thermal-aging of the 9Cr-ODS steel containing metallic Cr inclusions. The strength and ductility of the defective part containing metallic Cr inclusions were appreciably lower than those of a standard part without the inclusions. The combined effects of matrix Cr heterogeneity (presence of metallic Cr inclusions) and high-temperature irradiation were concluded to be the main cause of the peculiar microstructure change in 9Cr-ODS steel cladding tubes in the BOR-60 irradiation tests. They contributed to the fuel pin rupture.