Fuel performance assessment of enhanced accident tolerant fuel using iron-based alloys as cladding

Abstract

In the framework of the Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel (EATF) program, one important tool to assess the behaviour of new materials under irradiation is the use of fuel performance codes. For this, it is necessary to modify conventional fuel performance codes to introduce the properties of the materials to be studied. The aim of this paper is to present some preliminary results obtained using modified versions of the FRAPCON code adapted to evaluate the performance as cladding of two different types of iron-based alloys as cladding: stainless steel (AISI 348), and FeCrAl alloy, including a preliminary sensitivity analysis. The results obtained using the modified versions of the codes were compared to those obtained for zirconium-based alloys using the original code version. The results have shown and confirmed that iron-based alloys are one of the promising candidates to be used as EATF cladding in PWR.