Experimental and numerical study on the oxidation and melting behaviors of annular fuel rod under high temperature steam condition

Abstract

In the safety analysis of nuclear reactor severe accident, the oxidation and melting behaviors of fuel rods under high temperature steam condition is a crucial issue that need to be concerned. As a new type of high-performance light water reactor nuclear fuel, the annular fuel is composed of outer cladding, annular fuel pellet, inner cladding and two coolant channels. At present, the oxidation and melting behaviors research of annular fuel under high temperature steam condition is insufficient. Thus, this paper builds a visual experimental platform for out-of-pile analysis, and carries out the high temperature oxidation experimental research of annular fuel rod based on real cladding material-Zircaloy. The transient temperature characteristic curve and visualization process of annular fuel rod under the conditions of high temperature melting, steam oxidation and re-flooding are obtained. In addition, this paper establishes a seven steps numerical analysis method for oxidation and melting behaviors analysis of annular fuel rod. Based on the three tests results, the accuracy of the model is verified, and the temperature prediction error is within 10%, which lays a foundation for the further calculation of the whole reactor core.