Modeling and design of a separate effects irradiation test targeting fission gas release from Cr-doped UO2

Jacob P. Gorton; Annabelle G. Le Coq; Zane G. Wallen; Christian M. Petrie; Joshua T. White; John T. Dunwoody; Shane Mann; Nathan A. Capps; Andrew T. Nelson

doi:10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113571

Modeling and design of a separate effects irradiation test targeting fission gas release from Cr-doped UO₂

Jacob P. Gorton, Annabelle G. Le Coq, Zane G. Wallen, Christian M. Petrie, Joshua T. White, John T. Dunwoody, Shane Mann, Nathan A. Capps, Andrew T. Nelson

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fission gas release (FGR) from nuclear fuel during operation can diminish heat transfer properties across the pellet-cladding gap and increase the fuel rod internal pressure, thereby posing a concern to fuel reliability and safety during an accident. Enlarging the fuel grain size, which has been shown to improve fission gas retention, can be achieved by doping the fuel feedstock prior to sintering. In this work, the BISON fuel performance code was used to predict FGR from undoped and chromia-doped UO₂ (referred to as Cr-doped UO₂) fuel specimens with different grain sizes and across various temperatures. The BISON models identified the irradiation conditions for which FGR is most significant, and a separate effects irradiation experiment in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) was then developed targeting those conditions. The experiment leveraged the MiniFuel irradiation capability at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and consisted of 12 fuel specimens of varying grain size and Cr content. A coupling scheme between BISON FGR results and the ANSYS finite element thermal model used for experiment design was formulated to predict cumulative FGR from each fuel specimen based on expected irradiation temperature histories. The fuel samples were fabricated and characterized as a part of this work, and the fuel compositions modeled in BISON were representative of the specimens used in the experiment. This combined modeling and experimental effort aims to study the effect of fuel grain size and Cr content on FGR and to provide simulated BISON FGR results that can be used for future model validation activities.

Original language	English
Article number	113571
Journal	Nuclear Engineering and Design
Volume	429
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113571
State	Published - Dec 1 2024

Funding

This work was jointly supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Advanced Fuels Campaign and the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ). This work was jointly supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Advanced Fuels Campaign and the DOE National Nuclear Security Administration Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Research and Development.

Keywords

Fuel performance
HFIR
MiniFuel
Nuclear fuel

Access to Document

10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113571

Cite this

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title = "Modeling and design of a separate effects irradiation test targeting fission gas release from Cr-doped UO2",

abstract = "Fission gas release (FGR) from nuclear fuel during operation can diminish heat transfer properties across the pellet-cladding gap and increase the fuel rod internal pressure, thereby posing a concern to fuel reliability and safety during an accident. Enlarging the fuel grain size, which has been shown to improve fission gas retention, can be achieved by doping the fuel feedstock prior to sintering. In this work, the BISON fuel performance code was used to predict FGR from undoped and chromia-doped UO2 (referred to as Cr-doped UO2) fuel specimens with different grain sizes and across various temperatures. The BISON models identified the irradiation conditions for which FGR is most significant, and a separate effects irradiation experiment in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) was then developed targeting those conditions. The experiment leveraged the MiniFuel irradiation capability at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and consisted of 12 fuel specimens of varying grain size and Cr content. A coupling scheme between BISON FGR results and the ANSYS finite element thermal model used for experiment design was formulated to predict cumulative FGR from each fuel specimen based on expected irradiation temperature histories. The fuel samples were fabricated and characterized as a part of this work, and the fuel compositions modeled in BISON were representative of the specimens used in the experiment. This combined modeling and experimental effort aims to study the effect of fuel grain size and Cr content on FGR and to provide simulated BISON FGR results that can be used for future model validation activities.",

keywords = "Fuel performance, HFIR, MiniFuel, Nuclear fuel",

author = "Gorton, {Jacob P.} and {Le Coq}, {Annabelle G.} and Wallen, {Zane G.} and Petrie, {Christian M.} and White, {Joshua T.} and Dunwoody, {John T.} and Shane Mann and Capps, {Nathan A.} and Nelson, {Andrew T.}",

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AU - Capps, Nathan A.

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AB - Fission gas release (FGR) from nuclear fuel during operation can diminish heat transfer properties across the pellet-cladding gap and increase the fuel rod internal pressure, thereby posing a concern to fuel reliability and safety during an accident. Enlarging the fuel grain size, which has been shown to improve fission gas retention, can be achieved by doping the fuel feedstock prior to sintering. In this work, the BISON fuel performance code was used to predict FGR from undoped and chromia-doped UO2 (referred to as Cr-doped UO2) fuel specimens with different grain sizes and across various temperatures. The BISON models identified the irradiation conditions for which FGR is most significant, and a separate effects irradiation experiment in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) was then developed targeting those conditions. The experiment leveraged the MiniFuel irradiation capability at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and consisted of 12 fuel specimens of varying grain size and Cr content. A coupling scheme between BISON FGR results and the ANSYS finite element thermal model used for experiment design was formulated to predict cumulative FGR from each fuel specimen based on expected irradiation temperature histories. The fuel samples were fabricated and characterized as a part of this work, and the fuel compositions modeled in BISON were representative of the specimens used in the experiment. This combined modeling and experimental effort aims to study the effect of fuel grain size and Cr content on FGR and to provide simulated BISON FGR results that can be used for future model validation activities.

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