Browsing by Subject "Reactor operation"
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Item Analysis of PCI failure risk and modelling hoop stress during load following maneuvers in pressurized water reactors(2022-06-29) Wray, Dylan F.; Clarno, Kevin T.In commercial light water reactors, one important fuel failure scenario to analyze is fuel failure due to pellet-cladding interaction (PCI), in which the contact between the fuel pellets and the cladding of a fuel rod causes the cladding to crack, releasing fission products into the coolant. PCI failure normally occurs during power ramps, and in a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) the only significant power ramp occurs at the beginning of the cycle. However, there may be some advantages for operators to engage in load following maneuvers, in which the reactor power is lowered at some time into the cycle and remains low for a set amount of time before returning to full power. These load following maneuvers create additional power ramp events that could pose additional risk for PCI failure in the rods: Operators may follow power maneuver guidelines (PMGs) to prevent PCI failure, but the change in the state of the rods caused by additional operation before the mid-cycle power ramp could be outside the experience of traditional PCI studies. It is important to assess how these additional power ramps affect the risk of PCI failure and to develop methods to predict the additional risks.