Missing pellet surface (MPS) defects are local geometric defects in nuclear fuel pellets that result from pellet mishandling or manufacturing. The presence of MPS defects can cause clad stress concentrations that are substantial enough to produce through-wall cladding failure for certain combinations of fuel burnup, and reactor power level or power change. Consequently, the impact of potential ...

Iodine-induced stress-corrosion cracking (ISCC), a known failure mode for nuclear fuel cladding, occurs when iodine generated during the irradiation of a nuclear fuel pellet escapes the pellet through diffusion or thermal cracking and chemically interacts with the inner surface of the clad material, inducing a subsequent effect on the cladding’s resistance to mechanical stress. To complement ex...

Abstract—Analysis of the uncertainty quantification related to nuclear safety margins applied to the nuclear reactor is an important concept to prevent future radioactive accidents. The nuclear fuel performance code may involve the tolerance level determined by traditional deterministic models producing acceptable results at burn cycles under 62 GWd/MTU. The behavior of nuclear fuel can simulat...

Knowledge of fuel limits and safety margins in normal and off-normal transients in nuclear power plants remains a constant preoccupation for electricity producers and fuel manufacturers. Accurate determination of such limits, through fuel irradiation testing in the OSIRIS reactor at Saclay is closely linked to the reliability of appropriate instrumentation techniques. Two paths are currently fo...

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...

Residential combustion has been identified as one of the main sources of particulate matter (PM); fine particles are important because of their adverse effects on human health and the environment. In this thesis, fine particle emissions originating from residential pellet combustion were characterized in different operational situations and using different raw materials as pellet fuel. Moreover...