BEHAVIOR OF HIGH-BURNUP PWR FUELS WITH LOW-TIN ZIRCALOY-4 CLADDING UNDER REACTIVITY-INITIATED-ACCIDENT CONDITIONS

TOYOSHI FUKETA,* HIDEO SASAJIMA, and TOMOYUKI SUGIYAMA

Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Department of Reactor Safety Research Tokai-mura, Ibaraki-ken, 319-1195 Japan

FUEL CYCLE AND MANAGEMENT KEYWORDS: reactivity-initiated accident, high burnup, fuel failure

Received July 26, 1999 Accepted for Publication August 1, 2000

Experimental programs on fuel behavior during simulated reactivity-initiated-accident (RIA) conditions at the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor (NSRR) in Japan and the CABRI test reactor in France appear to indicate that cladding failures may occur at enthalpy values lower than would be expected. Results from two experiments designated as HBO-1 in NSRR and REP Na-1 in CABRI indicate that the occurrence of fuel failure is strongly influenced by corrosion of cladding in the tested fuels. However, data had been limited to fuel rods with conventional (1.5% Sn) Zircaloy-4 cladding. Results are described from newly conducted NSRR experiments, TK test series, for 38 to 50 MWd/kg U pressurized water reactor fuels with low-tin (1.3% Sn) Zircaloy-4 cladding, and anticipated processes of fuel behavior during the transient are discussed.

INTRODUCTION From 1994 to 1996, we performed seven pulseirradiation experiments with high-burnup pressurized water reactor ~PWR! fuels in the HBO test series 1,2 and observed fuel failures at a low enthalpy level in two experiments, HBO-1 and -5. In the test fuel rods, significant hydride deposition occurred below the oxide film that was generated in the cladding peripheral region. Brittle fracture can be seen in the cladding outer region, where a number of hydride clusters precipitated, and duc*E-mail: toyo@nsrr.tokai.jaeri.go.jp 50

tile fracture appears in the inner region. Incipient cracking occurred in the outer, hydrided region and propagated to the inner region. Fuel failure occurred in the experiments with test fuel rods from the highest elevations in the core, and microcrack generation in oxide and hydride layers was observed in the experiments with rods from these relatively high elevations. Occurrence of fuel failure in the HBO experiments correlates with the sampling elevation and hence with the thickness of oxide film and the severity of hydrogen deposition of the tested fuel rods. The fuel rods in the HBO series were sampled from a mother rod irradiated in a 48 MWd0 kg U lead-use program, and these rods had conventional ~1.5% Sn! Zircaloy-4 cladding. However, fuels with low-tin ~1.3% Sn! Zircaloy-4 cladding were adopted for 48 MWd0kg U regular use in Japanese PWRs. Accordingly, we started a new series of experiments with the fuels with the low-tin cladding, as TK test series. This paper presents results from the TK tests and discusses anticipated processes of fuel behavior, including pellet-cladding mechanical interaction ~PCMI!, latephase fuel deformation, and postfailure events. Finally, the paper describes pending questions in the field of study and ongoing programs.

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND TEST CONDITIONS The Nuclear Safety Research Reactor ~NSRR! is a modified TRIGA annular core pulse reactor, whose salient features are a pulsing power capability and a 22cm-diam dry irradiation space located in the center of the reactor core to accommodate a sizable experiment. Details of the NSRR can be found in previous documents.1,3 The experimental capsule used for irradiated fuel
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Fig. 1. Schematic of test capsule.

rod tests in the NSRR for pulse irradiations is a double container system. Figure 1 shows a schematic of the capsule. The outer capsule is a sealed container with 130-mm inner diameter ~i.d.! and 1250-mm height, and the inner capsule is a sealed pressure vessel with 72-mm i.d. and 680-mm height. The capsule contains an instrumented test fuel rod with stagnant water at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature. Cladding surface temperatures were measured by 0.2-mm bare-wire R-type ~Pt0Pt13%Rh! thermocouples spot-welded to the cladding. Coolant water temperature was measured by sheathed K-type ~CA! thermocouples ~1 mm in diameter! near the cladding surface at top of the test fuel rod and0or center of the fuel stack. A strain-gauge-type pressure sensor was installed at the bottom of the inner capsule to measure the increase in capsule internal pressure. In some experiments,

sensors for axial elongation of pellet stack and cladding tube or float-type water column velocity sensor were used. Test fuel rods in the TK test series ~TK fuel! had been irradiated in the Takahama unit 3 reactor. The TK fuel has 17 17 geometry of types A and B.a They have different cladding thicknesses and pellet outer diameters, as listed in Table I. The test fuel rod is illustrated in Fig. 2. Since the TK test fuel in each experiment was sampled at a different elevation, oxide film thickness on the cladding outer surface and concentration of absorbed hydrogen in the cladding interior varied. The test conditions, including rod sampling elevation and peak fuel enthalpy, are listed in Table II. Unless otherwise noted, the
a Types

A and B fuel were manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., and Nuclear Fuel Industries, Ltd., respectively.

TABLE I Diametral Dimensions of Cladding and Fuel Pellets Cladding Outer Diameter ~mm! 9.5 9.5 Thickness ~mm! 0.57 0.64 P0C Gap ~mm! 0.085 0.085 Pellet Outer Diameter ~mm! 8.19 8.05 Pellet Height ~mm! 10 9

Fuel Type A B

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Fig. 2. Schematic of a short-sized test fuel rod.

TABLE II Test Conditions of TK and HBO Tests Test TK-1 TK-2 TK-3 TK-4 TK-5 TK-6 HBO-1 HBO-2 HBO-3 HBO-4 HBO-5 HBO-6 HBO-7
a The

Fuel Type A B B A A A A A A A B B B

Span Fifth a Second Fourth Third Second Third Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Second Fourth Third

Oxide Layer ~mm! 7 15 to 35 4 to 12 25 30 15 40 to 48 30 to 40 20 to 25 15 to 20 35 to 60 20 to 30 35 to 45

Fuel Burnup ~MWd0kg U! 38 48 50 50 48 38 50.4 50.4 50.4 50.4 44 49 49

Peak Enthalpy ~J0g! 527 448 414 410 423 523 306 155 310 209 335 356 368

Result No failure, FGR 20.0% Failed at 251 J0g, 7% fuel dispersed No failure, FGR 10.9% No failure, FGR 8.3% No failure, FGR 11.1% No failure, FGR 16.2% Failed at 251 J0g, 100% fuel dispersed No failure, FGR 17.7% No failure, FGR 22.7% No failure, FGR 21.1% Failed at 322 J0g, 5% fuel dispersed No failure, FGR 10.4% No failure, FGR 8.5%

first span is the highest.

peak fuel enthalpy denotes the radial average peak fuel enthalpy per unit mass of fuel ~Joules per gram or calories per gram! in this paper. The table includes conditions of previously performed experiments in the HBO series. TEST RESULTS PCMI Failure Among the six experiments of the TK test series described in this paper, failure occurred only in test TK-2. A comparison between this experiment and subsequent test TK-3 provides critical information regarding whether fuel fails due to PCMI in the NSRR experiments. The test fuel rods of TK-2 and -3 were sampled from the second span ~from the top! and fourth span of the same
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mother rod. Because of the difference in the sampling elevation, the oxide layer thickness of the cladding ranges from 15 to 35 mm for TK-2 ~23 mm on average! and from 4 to 12 mm for TK-3 ~7 mm on average!. Fuel burnup is 48 MWd0kg U for TK-2 and 50 MWd0kg U for TK-3. Both experiments were performed with the same pulse in the NSRR, and fuel enthalpy reached ;414 J0g ~99 cal0g! in TK-2 and 385 J0g ~92 cal0g! in TK-3. After the earlier HBO-5 test resulted in fuel failure, the possibility of influence from cladding surface thermocouples on cladding failure was discussed. To exclude the possibility, cladding surface thermocouples were not installed in TK-2. Instead of elongation sensors for cladding and fuel stack, a float-type water column velocity sensor was used to measure mechanical energy generation when the fuel rod failed during the experiment. Axial elongation sensors and cladding surface thermocouples were installed for TK-3. The pulse-irradiation
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Fig. 3. Transient records of test TK-2: reactor power and integrated reactor power, signal from water column velocity sensor, fuel rod internal pressure, and capsule internal pressure as a function of time.

conditions are identical in experiments TK-2 and TK-3, except the instrumentation and the state of the test fuel rods. Test TK-2 resulted in fuel failure and TK-3 did not. Figure 3 shows transient histories of the NSRRs power, signal from the water column velocity sensor, fuel rod internal pressure, and capsule internal pressure during the TK-2 test. During pulse irradiation, the water column starts to move, and spikes appear in the rod and in the capsule internal pressure histories simultaneously. These indicate that fuel failure occurred at that instant. When the fuel rod failed, fuel enthalpy reached 251 J0g ~60 cal0g!. In the signal from the water column velocity sensor, a half-wavelength corresponds to 3-mm move-

ment of the float at the surface of the coolant water. The thermal-to-mechanical energy conversion ratio, a ratio of mechanical energy generated to the peak fuel enthalpy of the fuel, is estimated as ;0.08%. A vertical crack over the active fuel region was observed in the posttest examination in the TK-2 fuel, as seen in Fig. 4. An enlarged photograph of the cracking in TK-2 is shown in Fig. 5, and the appearance of the crack is similar to those in HBO-1 ~Ref. 1! and -5 ~Ref. 2!. An X ray of the posttest TK-2 rod shows that few fuel particles were dispersed into the coolant water. In the subsequent test TK-3, fuel failure did not occur. During the TK-3 test, cladding surface temperature reached ;980 K at maximum, as shown in Fig. 6. Although relatively large fuel deformation occurred, the cladding survived in the experiment. The histories of cladding surface temperature in the TK-3 test suggest that the fuel failure in the previous TK-2 occurred when cladding surface temperature was still low early in the transient. In experiments TK-2 and -3, only the test fuel rod sampled from the higher elevation, with thicker oxide layer and larger hydrogen pickup, failed at 251 J0g ~60 cal0g!. The results from the two experiments indicate that the critical factor is whether cladding has enough ductility to survive until the time that cladding temperature reaches a certain level. In the experiments with test fuel rods sampled from the higher elevation, cracking occurred initially in the radially localized hydride layer of the cladding and then propagated during early stages of the transient when cladding temperature was still low. According to the photo-image analyses, residual hoop strains of failed claddings in HBO-1 and -5 are much less than 1%. A separate fast-transient tube burst experiment also showed that cladding with a radially localized hydride layer fails with ,1% of residual strain at room temperature.4 It can be expected that deformation of the cladding is limited to small amounts during the early phase, i.e., during the PCMI-loading process, and the deformation increases with elevated cladding temperature during the late phase, i.e., postdeparture from nucleate boiling ~DNB! phase. Rod Deformation The deformation of the cladding was most dramatic in test TK-1. The test fuel rod of TK-1 was sampled from the fifth span ~from the top! of type-A fuel. The mother rod had been irradiated for two cycles, and burnup of the TK-1 fuel was 37.8 MWd0kg U. Because of the

Fig. 4. Posttest appearance of the TK-2 test fuel.

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Fig. 5. Cracking observed in a radial cross section of posttest TK-2 fuel ~chemically treated surface to show hydride clusters!.

Fig. 6. Transient histories of cladding surface temperature during test TK-3 ~No. 1: 33 mm below the axial center of the active fuel region, No. 2: 5 mm above the axial center of the active fuel region!.

Fig. 7. Transient histories of the cladding surface temperature during test TK-1 ~Nos. 1 and 2: 42 and 2 mm, respectively, below the axial center of the active fuel region; No. 3: 38 mm above the axial center of the active fuel region!.

relatively low burnup and low sampling elevation, oxide thickness of the cladding remained low at 7 mm. Fuel enthalpy during pulse irradiation reached 523 J0g ~125 cal0g! at maximum, and the rod did not fail. Figure 7 shows transient histories of the cladding surface temperature during TK-1. Cladding surface temperature increased rapidly at the pulse, and DNB occurred. The temperature reached ;860 K at maximum. Figure 8 shows the posttest appearance of the TK-1 test fuel rod. Significant swelling occurred over the active fuel region as is also shown in Fig. 9. The increase in cladding diameter is 10% on average over the pellet stack region and 25% at maximum. The X ray in Fig. 8 shows the portion where the most significant deformation appeared. It shows that a gap did not form between the fuel pellets and the cladding inner surface, and the fuel pellets themselves expanded significantly. This fact suggests that the large increase in cladding diameter of the TK-1 rod was not caused by a pressure increase in the fuel rod plenum ~ballooning! but was produced by pellet expansion ~i.e., by
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the PCMI!. Roughly polished radial and vertical cross sections of the posttest TK-1 fuel are shown in Fig. 10. Large cracks and openings are observed in the cross sections of the posttest fuel pellets. The results of the earlier HBO tests indicated that rapid expansion of intergranular fission gas caused grain-boundary separation, and it resulted in fuel pellet expansion and PCMI. Figure 11 shows the pre- and posttest cladding outer diameters of experiments TK-3 through TK-6. Figure 12 shows residual hoop strains in the NSRR PWR fuel experiments as a function of peak fuel enthalpy, and the figure includes data from MH, GK, and OI test series.1 The higher fuel enthalpies correlate with the larger strains, and those of TK-1 and -6 are extremely large due to the higher enthalpy level of these two experiments. The fission-gas-induced expansion has a significant role in the large deformations. However, the information regarding pellet expansion and resulting rod deformation is
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Fig. 8. Posttest appearance of the TK-1 test fuel ~X-ray shows the most expanded region!.

Fig. 9. Axial profile of pre- and posttest cladding outer diameters of the TK-1 test fuel.

limited to that from the posttest measurement of residual cladding deformation, and we do not know how much expansion occurred during the early PCMI loading process. In the experiments that result in large deformation, i.e., 2% strain or higher, cladding surface temperature increased from 600 to 1000 K at maximum due to DNB. As described earlier, the large deformation occurs during the post-DNB phase. It can be expected that the fissiongas-induced expansion combined with thermal expansion provides PCMI loading to the cladding during the early stage as well as in the later post-DNB phase, but at present it is not known how early and how fast pressure

Fig. 10. Radial and transverse cross sections of the posttest TK-1 test fuel ~as roughly polished!.
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ameter during pulse irradiation is being developed with eddy current sensors. The method is being verified in outof-pile testing and in NSRR experiments with unirradiated fuels and is to be applied to irradiated fuel tests in the NSRR. Fission Gas Release After the pulse-irradiation experiments, rod-average fission gas release ~FGR! was measured for the test rods by rod puncture and gas analysis. The FGRs during pulse irradiation are shown in Fig. 13 as a function of the peak fuel enthalpy. Except for HBO-2, -3, and -4, the higher FGR correlates with the higher peak fuel enthalpy. In HBO-2, -3, -4 and TK-1, FGR reached ;20%, and this corresponds to all the fission gas accumulated in grain boundaries being released in these experiments. As can be seen in Figs. 12 and 13, the experiments with high FGR resulted in large rod deformation, except in HBO-2, -3, and -4. This fact indicates the significant role of fission gas in rod deformation. In HBO-2, -3, and -4, DNB did not occur, and cladding temperatures remained in low. ~A transient signal from the thermocouple in HBO-3 showed ;670 K at maximum, but the duration of stable film boiling was very short and must have been limited to the local area.! Therefore, the significant role of fission gas in rod deformation appears to occur only at high temperatures, where cladding ductility is enhanced. Fuel Fragmentation and Mechanical Energy Generation The loading from fission gas expansion appears as grain boundary separation in posttest micrographs of fuel pellets. Figure 14 shows the microstructure of the posttest TK-2 fuel pellet. The pictures show a horizontal, aspolished cross section of the pellet. Significant grain boundary separation can be seen in extensive areas of the cross section. In the TK-2 test, which resulted in fuel failure, some fuel was dispersed from the fuel rod, and ;7% of the

Fig. 11. Axial profile of pre- and posttest cladding outer diameters of the TK-3, -4, -5, and -6 test fuels.

Fig. 12. Residual hoop strain of cladding as a function of peak fuel enthalpy.

elevations and reductions occur in fission gas accumulated on grain boundaries. Since rod deformation in the early stage is critical information for evaluating the PCMI loading, a transient method to measure cladding outer di56

Fig. 13. Fission gas release as a function of peak fuel enthalpy.

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Fig. 14. Fuel pellet microstructures observed in a radial cross section of the posttest TK-2 fuel.

total fuel was recovered as fragmented particles from capsule water after the experiment. A cross-sectional view of the fuel particles is shown in Fig. 15, and scanning electron microscopy ~SEM! images are shown in Fig. 16. The collected fuel particles were not once molten, as can be expected from the low maximum fuel temperature ~;2100 K or lower! during pulse irradiation. Although the fragmented particles remained in the solid phase, 22-J mechanical energy was generated during test TK-2 and corresponds to a thermal-to-mechanical energy conversion ratio of ;0.08%. The estimation of mechanical work due to rod internal gas release and expansion shows that

the gas does not have enough potential to produce this mechanical energy in TK-2. With an extreme assumption that all the rod internal gas reaches the maximum fuel temperature, gas internal energy is only 6.8 J, which is well below the mechanical energy generated. This suggests that rapid steam generation due to thermal interaction of dispersed fuel fragments with coolant water is the primary source of the mechanical energy generated during the test. The postulated heat flux in this thermal interaction was compared with those in separate-effects experiments with powder fuels, and the comparison corroborates that the heat flux in this process is realistic.5

Fig. 15. Cross-sectional view of fragmented fuel particles recovered from coolant water in test TK-2.
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Fig. 16. SEM images of fragmented fuel particles recovered from coolant water in test TK-2.

DISCUSSION, KEY QUESTIONS, AND ONGOING PROGRAMS Figure 17 illustrates schematically the processes of fuel behavior during these transients. Fuel pellet temperature increases promptly at the onset of the event, and fuel pellets expand rapidly due to thermal expansion and most likely due to fission-gas-induced expansion. The fission-gas-induced expansion is caused by thermal expansion of fission gas accumulated in fuel grain boundaries, as shown in Fig. 18. Then, expanded fuel pellets contact the cladding inner wall and push on the surface. When hydrides precipitate in the cladding periphery, ductility of the cladding is reduced significantly due to this radially localized hydride layer. Incipient cracking occurs in the cladding periphery, and the cracks propagate to the inside. This hydride-assisted PCMI failure occurs in the early stage of the transient when cladding temperature is still low and the cladding ductility is low. In the NSRR experiments, the hydride-assisted PCMI failure occurred when cladding surface temperature was 400 K or lower. If the cladding survives this early phase, the behavior proceeds to the late-phase, post-DNB process. Then, cladding temperature increases rapidly, and the ductility of the cladding decreases. Expansion of fuel pellets results in cladding with large deformation. If fuel rod internal pressure is high enough, ballooning of the cladding and burst-type failure can be caused in the late phase.
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When cladding fails during the transient, the contact of dispersed fuel pellets with coolant water produces mechanical energy as a postfailure event. The grain boundary separation accelerates fuel fragmentation, resulting in a large surface area of finely fragmented fuel particles. Although fuel particles are in solid form, thermal interaction between fuel fragments and coolant water can produce mechanical energy. The results from the NSRR and CABRI REP-Na experiments 6 have provided evidence that fuel failure of high-burnup PWR fuel occurs at a low enthalpy level. The results indicate that decreased cladding ductility, fuel pellet expansion, and increased internal pressure driven by fission gas expansion have significant roles in the failure process. The NSRR experiments have also shown the occurrence of postfailure events, including mechanical energy generation and fuel fragmentation. To understand high-burnup fuel behavior during reactivity-initiatedaccident ~RIA! conditions, further efforts are needed to determine the following: 1. mechanical properties of cladding materials, in particular, ductility reduction due to radially localized hydride precipitation 2. role of fission gas in fuel pellet expansion, grain boundary separation, and fuel fragmentation 3. assessment of postfailure events
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Fig. 17. Processes of fuel behavior during an RIA.

4. post-DNB failure modes 5. influence of pulse-width and initial temperature on the failure 6. code qualifications. Hydrogen deposition, in particular, could be critically important in the high-burnup PWR fuel behavior during an RIA. The effect of hydrides cannot be described by hydrogen concentration averaged in a horizontal cross section. The effect of radial and circumferential localization of the hydride clusters is very important, as indicated by photographic analysis,2 for the distribution of hydride clusters. The influence of a radially localized hydride layer on cladding ductility is being examined in out-of-pile, separate-effects tests at JapanAtomic Energy Research InNUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY VOL. 133 JAN. 2001

stitute ~JAERI!. The separate-effects tests include fasttransient tube burst experiments 4 at room and elevated temperatures and modified ring tensile tests on machined specimens. The results from in-reactor tests TK-2 and TK-3 indicate that the critical factor is whether cladding has enough ductility to survive until the time that cladding temperature reaches a certain level. Accordingly, data regarding brittle-ductile transition temperatures of hydrided cladding are important. To examine hydride-assisted PCMI failure and to evaluate PCMI loading, the pellet expansion mechanism must be clarified in the early phase of the transient as well as cladding ductility reduction. As stated earlier, it is expected that the fission-gas-induced expansion combined with thermal expansion provides a PCMI load to
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Fig. 18. Sequence of fission-gas-induced expansion, PCMI loading, and grain boundary separation.

the cladding during the early stage. However, the role of fission gas in pellet expansion remains speculative for the moment.7 A key question about pellet behavior has to do with fission-gas-induced expansion due to highpressure loading of heated fission gas confined in grain boundaries. How early and how fast the pressure elevation and reduction occur in fission gas in grain boundaries should be determined. The pressure increase and subsequent reduction in small fission gas bubbles are strongly affected by a number of unknown parameters, such as bubble size, initial pressure, and threshold of path opening. To investigate the role of fission gas in grain boundary separation and fuel fragmentation as well as the failure process, measurements on the radial distribution of accumulated fission gas and inter- and intragranular inventory are continuing with newly installed postirradiation examination devices, including an ion microanalyzer. An out-of-pile fuel pellet heating test called VEGA ~verification experiment of gas0aerosol release! 8 under accident conditions will also provide information on fission gas states in high-burnup fuels. High coolant temperatures and wide pulse widths in power reactors under accident conditions can provide a
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higher cladding temperature when the cladding takes PCMI loading. It is expected that a reduction of hydride embrittlement occurs at elevated cladding temperatures. Wider pulse is not available in the NSRR, but a hightemperature, high-pressure test capsule 9 is being designed to clarify the initial temperature effect. The narrow pulse of the NSRR gives a lower cladding temperature in the early transient stage, but the pulse-width effect is currently understood only in a qualitative manner. As for cladding temperature during transients, no data are available from CABRI, and no code can simulate the temperature histories from NSRR tests at present. Lower thermal diffusivity and gap conductance in high-burnup fuel pellets may reduce the difference of cladding peripheral temperature between narrow and wide pulses. The difference in thermal expansion between wide and narrow pulses is also unknown due to a lack of quantitative information regarding heat loss during transients. CABRI REP Na-1 and Na-10 gave different energies at the time of failure ~failure energy! with a 9.5-ms ~full-width at half-maximum! pulse in Na-1 and a 31-ms pulse in Na-10 ~Ref. 7! Both experiments were performed with fuel rods with an 80-mm oxide layer and initial oxide spallation. It can be expected that the pulsewidth effect appears more dramatically in experiments with test fuel rods with extremely embrittled cladding, such as cladding with preexisting oxide spallation. Since this kind of cladding fails with very small strain, small differences in thermal expansion may give different failure energies. A milder effect ~smaller difference in failure energy! may appear when unspalled 50 to 60 MWd0 kg U PWR fuels are tested with narrow and wide pulses. The key question is strain at the time of failure, and that is what we are working on with the eddy-current-type sensor for transient strain measurement. Pending questions exist also in the late-phase, postDNB process and in the postfailure events. The possibility of post-DNB, burst-type failure depends on timing of fission gas release and elevation of rod internal pressure in combination with cladding temperature increase. Regarding fuel fragmentation and mechanical energy generation after failure, the driving force of fuel expulsion from cladding, the contact mode of fuel and coolant, the steam generation rate, etc., should be studied in experimental and in-reactor conditions.

CONCLUSIONS High-burnup PWR fuel rod segments with low-tin cladding ~1.3% Sn! were subjected to pulse irradiation, and test specimens from higher elevations with thicker oxide layers, failed at values as low as 251 J0g ~60 cal0g! for fuel enthalpy. The results indicate that the critical factor is whether cladding has enough ductility to survive until the time that cladding temperature reaches a certain
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level. Greater fuel deformation occurred at higher fuel enthalpy levels and reached a 25% increase in cladding outer diameter at maximum. In the experiment resulting in fuel failure, fuel fragmentation and mechanical energy generation were observed. In test TK-2, 7% of the fuel was dispersed into coolant, and the thermal-tomechanical energy conversion ratio was 0.08%. Collected fuel particles were not previously molten. The results indicate vigorous thermal interaction between the particles and coolant water. To understand the failure process, the pellet expansion mechanism in the early phase of the transient must be clarified as well as cladding ductility reduction. The existing data suggest that the fission-gas-induced expansion combined with thermal expansion provides PCMI loading to the cladding in the early stage. A key question remains about pellet behavior with regard to fission-gasinduced expansion due to high-pressure loading of heated fission gas confined in grain boundaries.

France, September 1214, 1995, NEA0CSNI0R~95!22, p. 59, Nuclear Energy Agency ~1996!. 2. T. FUKETA, F. NAGASE, K. ISHIJIMA, and T. FUJISHIRO, NSRR0RIA Experiments with High-Burnup PWR Fuels, Nucl. Safety, 37, 328 ~1996!. 3. T. FUKETA, H. SASAJIMA, Y. MORI, K. HOMMA, S. TANZAWA, K. ISHIJIMA, S. KOBAYASHI, H. KAMATA, and H. SAKAI, Behavior of Pre-irradiated Fuel Under a Simulated RIA Condition, JAERI-Research 95-078, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute ~1995!. 4. T. FUKETA, F. NAGASE, T. NAKAMURA, H. UETSUKA, and K. ISHIJIMA, NSRR Pulse Irradiation Experiments and Tube Burst Tests, Proc. 26th Water Reactor Safety Information Mtg., Bethesda, Maryland, October 2628, 1998, NUREG0 CP-0166, Vol. 3, p. 223, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ~1999!. 5. T. SUGIYAMA, T. FUKETA, and K. ISHIJIMA, Mechanical Energy Generation During High Burnup Fuel Failure Under Reactivity Initiated Accident Conditions, Proc. 7th Int. Conf. on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-7), ICONE-7070, Tokyo, Japan, April 1923, 1999 ~1999!. 6. F. SCHMITZ and J. PAPIN, High Burnup Effects on Fuel Behavior Under Accident Conditions: The Tests CABRI REPNa, Nucl. Mater., 270, 55 ~1999!. 7. F. SCHMITZ and J. PAPIN, REP-Na 10, Another RIA Test with a Spalled High Burnup Rod and with a Pulse Width of 30 ms, Proc. 26th Water Reactor Safety Information Mtg., Bethesda, Maryland, October 2628, 1998, NUREG 0CP-0166, Vol. 3, p. 243, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ~1999!. 8. T. NAKAMURA, A. HIDAKA, K. HASHIMOTO, Y. HARADA, Y. NISHINO, H. KANAZAWA, H. UETSUKA, and J. SUGIMOTO, Research Program ~VEGA! on the Fission Product Release from Irradiated Fuel, JAERI-Research 99-036, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute ~1999!. 9. T. FUKETA, T. NAKAMURA, and K. ISHIJIMA, The Status of the RIA Test Program in the NSRR, Proc. 25th Water Reactor Safety Information Mtg., Bethesda, Maryland, October 2022, 1997, NUREG 0CP-0162, Vol. 2, p. 179, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ~1998!.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge and express their appreciation to JAERI colleagues in the NSRR Operation Division for pulse-irradiation experiments, the Department of Hot Laboratories for test fuel fabrication and postirradiation examinations, and the Process Technology Division of the Department of Safety Research Technical Support for mass spectrometry. Discussions with R. Meyer of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, F. Schmitz of Frances Institute for Protection and Nuclear Safety, and K. Ishijima of JAERI were also invaluable for the study. The HBO and TK experiments were performed as collaborative programs between JAERI, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., Nuclear Fuel Industries, Ltd. by using fuel rods from Kansai Electric Power Company, Inc.

REFERENCES
1. T. FUKETA, Y. MORI, H. SASAJIMA, K. ISHIJIMA, and T. FUJISHIRO, Behavior of High Burnup PWR Fuel Under Simulated RIA Conditions in the NSRR, Proc. CSNI Specialist Mtg. Transient Behavior of High Burnup Fuel, Cadarache,

Toyoshi Fuketa ~BS, 1982; MS, 1984; and PhD, 1987, mechanical engineering science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan! is a principal engineer of the Fuel Safety Research Laboratory at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute ~JAERI!. He has been involved in the Nuclear Safety Research Reactor ~NSRR! project to study modes and consequences of failure of light water reactors and research reactor fuels. His research interests include fuel-coolant interactions, fuel failure mechanisms, and transient fission gas behavior. Hideo Sasajima ~BS, applied chemistry, Kanagawa University, Japan, 1982! is a senior engineer of the Fuel Safety Research Laboratory at JAERI. He has experience in fuel behavior study in two in-pile experiment programs in the
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Japan Materials Testing Reactor and NSRR. His current research interests include transient fission gas release from UO 2 and mixed-oxide fuels. Tomoyuki Sugiyama ~BS, 1991; MS, 1993; and PhD, 1996, mechanical engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan! is a research engineer of the Fuel Safety Research Laboratory at JAERI. He has been engaged in the NSRR project since 1996. In the project, he has performed modeling and separateeffects experiments regarding thermal interaction of solid fuel particles with coolant.

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VOL. 133

JAN. 2001