Cladding Deformation due to Gas Bubble Swelling of UO₂ Pellet in Bump Test

Abstract

Fission gas release in the bump tests was correlated to the deformations of claddings via mathematical product of the number of gas atoms and their residing time on grain boundaries. A positive correlation of the deformations with the product indicated that gas bubble swelling of pellets contributed to the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction (PCMI).

Residual gaps prior to the bump tests turned out to be filled in at the bump terminal level by differential thermal expansion of pellet and cladding. Visible macro cracks existing in the central part of the pellet virtually vanished during the tests due to bubble swelling of the pellet. Together with these observations, quantitative image analysis of pellet porosity showed that the aforementioned PCMI was brought about by combination of differential thermal expansion and bubble swelling.

A model to unify gas release, bubble growth and PCMI simulated well the observed behaviors of fission gas release from bump-tested rods. It was deduced by the model that higher burnup retains a higher potential for PCMI, while power reductions and associated gas releases reduce PCMI.

In the analysis in this paper were used the data of the Rise Transient Fission Gas Release Project.

KEYWORDS:

• fission gas release
• grain boundary
• bubble swelling
• fuel pellets
• cladding
• PCMI
• fuel-cladding interactions
• cladding deformation
• burnup
• bump test
• simulation