학술논문

Assessment of three European fuel performance codes against the SUPERFACT-1 fast reactor irradiation experiment
Document Type
Article
Source
Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 53(10), pp.3367-3378 Oct, 2021
Subject
원자력공학
Language
English
ISSN
2234-358X
1738-5733
Abstract
The design phase and safety assessment of Generation IV liquid metal-cooled fast reactors calls for theimprovement of fuel pin performance codes, in particular the enhancement of their predictive capabilities towards uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuels and stainless-steel cladding under irradiation infast reactor environments. To this end, the current capabilities of fuel performance codes must be critically assessed against experimental data from available irradiation experiments. This work is devoted tothe assessment of three European fuel performance codes, namely GERMINAL, MACROS and TRANSURANUS, against the irradiation of two fuel pins selected from the SUPERFACT-1 experimental campaign. The pins are characterized by a low enrichment (~ 2 wt.%) of minor actinides (neptunium and americium)in the fuel, and by plutonium content and cladding material in line with design choices envisaged forliquid metal-cooled Generation IV reactor fuels. The predictions of the codes are compared to severalexperimental measurements, allowing the identification of the current code capabilities in predictingfuel restructuring, cladding deformation, redistribution of actinides and volatile fission products. Theintegral assessment against experimental data is complemented by a code-to-code benchmark focusedon the evolution of quantities of engineering interest over time. The benchmark analysis points out thedifferences in the code predictions of fuel central temperature, fuel-cladding gap width, cladding outerradius, pin internal pressure and fission gas release and suggests potential modelling development pathstowards an improved description of the fuel pin behaviour in fast reactor irradiation conditions.