Abstract
Fuel clad is the main barrier against the release of radioactive materials. For decades zirconium-based alloys have been used as nuclear fuel clads. Fukushima accident proposed the idea of designing and developing accident tolerant fuels (ATF). This research tries to evaluate the effect of irradiation damage on ATF clads under operating condition of a pressurized water reactor. In this work, the SiC and FeCrAl clads are investigated as two candidates for replacement with conventional cladding, Zircaloy-4. The neutronics of a WWER1000 reactor is modeled based on the Monte Carlo method. The neutronic evaluation of the core with desired clads is performed over three years in different spatial points. Using calculated neutron spectrum, the SPECTER and SPECOMP codes are applied to evaluate the damage caused by the irradiation in the term of displacement per atom (DPA). The thermomechanical evaluation of the fuel rod considering cladding irradiation effects and burnup are performed by a developed thermomechanical code. Also, stress, strain, creep, fuel-clad contact, thickness of oxide layer and … are calculated and the results are compared considering irradiation effects.
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