Compared to the standard UO2–Zirconium (Zr) based system, accident tolerant nuclear fuels need to tolerate loss of active cooling in the core for a considerably longer time while maintaining or improving the fuel performance during normal operation conditions. Advanced alloys such as iron-chromium-aluminum-molybdenum (FeCrAlMo) alloys are being investigated both under normal operation conditions in high temperature water (e.g. 288°C) and under accident conditions for reaction with super-heated steam up to 1500°C. After a loss of coolant (LOCA) accident the reactor needs to be flooded, therefore quenching the fuel rods, which would have suffered a thermal shock. It is important to determine if FeCrAl alloys would retain their mechanical properties and analyzed configuration for criticality control after high temperature exposure followed by quenching. Six commercial alloys of nuclear interest were tested for resistance to quenching measures after exposure to air at 1200°C for 2 hours. Results of mechanical testing and metallographic cross sections show that the proposed replacement for zirconium alloys (Fe22Cr5Al3Mo) has excellent resistance to high temperature excursions and can resist quenching well.

Subject
Water, Materials, Nuclear power, Reactors, Coolants, Rods, Stress strain curves, Mechanical properties, Zirconium alloys, Steam, Alloys, Quenching and tempering, High temperature
Keywords:
Nuclear materials, FeCrAl alloys, accident tolerant, Fe22Cr5Al3Mo, quenching, mechanical properties
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2017
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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