Creep Simulations of Nuclear Fuel Cladding under long term Storage Conditions with TRANSURANUS
Within a joint research project between the Institute for Energy (IE) and the Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU) on the integrity of spent nuclear fuel cladding the ITU code TRANSURANUS was used to simulate creep of Zircaloy cladding tubes under long term storage conditions. Since TRANSURANUS is designed to model the mechanical, thermal and physical behaviour of fuel rods during reactor operation it was the objective of this study firstly to explore the limitations of the present creep models in TRANSURANUS for the simulation of long term creep processes under dry storage conditions. If the present creep models in TRANSURANUS were found to be inappropriate then the next objective was to formulate the properties of an "ideal" creep model for dry storage. The creep models were compared with creep tests on unirradiated Zircaloy cladding tubes. It turned out that the standard creep model for Zircaloy cladding in TRANSURANUS, the model of Lassmann and Moreno, underestimated the creep strains of the tests significantly. The creep model of Mayuzumi and Onchi, which was designed to model long term creep processes under dry storage conditions, lead to reasonable agreement with the creep tests for temperatures of 350 degrees Celcius and above. It turned out that for the accurate prediction under low-temperature conditions (under 350 degrees Celcius) more sophisticated creep models, which account for a shift in creep mechanisms, are necessary.
MARTIN Oliver;
NILSSON Karl-Fredrik;
GYORI Csaba;
VAN UFFELEN Paul;
SCHUBERT Arndt;
2009-06-12
European Commission
JRC49764
1018-5593,
EUR 23926 EN,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC49764,
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