Neutronic analysis of candidate accident-tolerant cladding concepts in pressurized water reactors

Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors

Comparison of Pellet-Cladding Mechanical Interaction for Zircaloy and Silicon Carbide Clad Fuel Rods in Pressurized Water Reactors

Contact between the outer surface of a fuel pellet and the inner surface of the fuel rod cladding can result in several kinds of undesirable behavior. As the pellet swells outward and the cladding creeps down, large stresses are generated in both the pellet and the cladding. This contact may exacerbate chemical degradation of the cladding and the stress may enable rapid propagation of cracks. B...

Direct Containment Heating Investigations for European Pressurized Water Reactors

While the issue on Direct Containment Heating (DCH) was resolved for US reactor plants in the 1990s it was found that the consequences of DCH processes are strongly dependent on the reactor cavity configuration. Therefore, an experimental and analytical program was started in 1998 to investigate melt ejection scenarios for typical German and European reactor designs. Six experiments have been p...

Public Health Risks of Substituting Mixed-Oxide For Uranium Fuel in Pressurized- Water Reactors

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded a contract to the consortium Duke Cogema Stone and Webster (DCS) to dispose of up to 33 tonnes of excess weapons-grade plutonium (WG-Pu) by irradiating it in the form of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel in four U.S. commercial pressurized-water reactors (PWRs). This paper estimates the increase in risk to the public from using WG-MOX at these reactors and f...

NEDO-10527, "Rod Drop Accident Analysis For Large Boiling Water Reactors."

This report describes the current methods used by the Atomic Power Equipment Depart ment of the Genervl Electric Company for the analysis of superprompr critical nuclear excurions in lare war-rnsoderantd reactors The 7mchnical analysis tools used in studying hypothetical nuclear transients adescribed herein, without considering the probability of such an occurrence. The rod drop accident has be...