GNF fuel reliability and channel performance: 2019 update

R. Schneider, D. Lutz, P. McCumbee, P. Cantonwine

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update to the fuel reliability and channel performance of GNF fuel designs for BWR applications - including inspection observations. Debris failures and channel-control blade interference continue to have the greatest impact on plant operations. Details of the recent debris failures at River Bend Station are provided. In addition, a strong case is made that debris is entering the bundle through the lower tie plate during operation instead of the upper tie plate during outages. Given this understanding of the source of debris, GNF has focused efforts on stopping debris from entering the bundle during operation and stopping debris fretting if debris does enter the bundle. In 2016, GNF introduced full reloads of GNF2.02 with an improved DefenderPLUS filter and spacers with fewer debris capture sites, and in the first cycle of operation at River Bend Station, a statistical improvement was observed for GNF2.02 compared to GNF2. GNF is also developing a debris-resistant coating called ARMOR that was part of lead test assemblies inserted in 2018. In addition, GNF plans to introduce a next generation filter design in 2020, which is expected to improve filter effectiveness even further compared to the DefenderPLUS filter. Longer-term, GNF expects a full transition to GNF3, which was designed to further improve fuel reliability while also increasing fuel-cycle benefits over GNF2. Besides debris failures, PCI-type failures are the only other observed failure type in the last decade, and these have been nearly eliminated through advances in core design and customer adoption of the GNF fuel operating guidelines, but remain as a potential mechanism when specific, unique operating conditions might occur. Observations of channel-control blade interference continue with the use of Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 channels, which emphasizes the need to fully transition to reload quantities of GNF's advanced NSF channel material. NSF is the standard channel material on the GNF3 fuel product line.

Original languageEnglish
Pages956-961
Number of pages6
StatePublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes
Event14th International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference, GLOBAL 2019 and Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference, TOP FUEL 2019 - Seattle, United States
Duration: Sep 22 2019Sep 27 2019

Conference

Conference14th International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Conference, GLOBAL 2019 and Light Water Reactor Fuel Performance Conference, TOP FUEL 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySeattle
Period09/22/1909/27/19

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