Accident tolerant fuels (FeCrAl Cladding & Coating) performance analysis in Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) by the MELCOR 1.8.6 UDGC

Abstract

Since the accident at Fukushima, one major goal of reactor safety research has been the development of more accident tolerant technologies that can mitigate or delay fuel degradation during a Beyond Design Basis Accident (BDBA). One major effort has been focused on increasing the capability of the fuel to be more tolerant of damage during an accident, i.e., Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) materials. In this work, we present the development of a generic BWR plant model, the modification of MELCOR to model ATF materials and the use of ATF materials (specifically FeCrAl alloy) as a coating on Zircaloy cladding or as a substitute material for cladding and fuel assembly canister material and its effect on severe accident progression, specifically, a Station Blackout accident. The analysis indicates that significant fuel degradation via fuel heat-up, clad oxidation, and hydrogen generation was delayed up to an hour if FeCrAl alloy was used as a clad and canister material. And, combined with the passive safety systems (i.e., the Reactor Core Isolation Cooling system, RCIC), the extended operation of these systems delayed fuel degradation further. However, an adverse effect should be emphasized for the monolithic FeCrAl design—it generated more hydrogen than the designs based on the Zircaloy due to the high reaction rate at a high temperature of FeCrAl. The design of the FeCrAl-coated-Zircaloy avoids this defect. Therefore, it is a promising choice to combine some of the beneficial traits of both materials.