FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE ASSESSMENT FOR A LARGE BREAK LOCA IN CANDU REACTOR LOADED WITH CANFLEX-NU FUEL BUNDLES

Fission product release (FPR) assessment for 100% reactor outlet header (ROH) break in CANDU reactor loaded with CANFLEX-NU fuel bundles has been performed. The predicted results are compared with those for the reactor loaded with standard 37-element bundles. The fuel failure thresholds for the CANFLEX and standard bundle elements are very similar. All the sheaths at the corresponding fuel failure thresholds for the CANFLEX and standard bundles fail due to the significant cracks in the surface oxide, except those for the CANFLEX inner element at burnups of 220 to 240 MW.h/kg(U), which fail due to the excessive diametral strain. The fuel failure analysis predicts that the number of failed fuel elements for the CANFLEX bundle case is none, while that for the standard bundle case is 1827. The total (gap plus bound) I-131 releases for the CANFLEX and standard bundles are none and 5889 TBq, respectively The significant reduction of the number of failed fuel elements and FPR for the CABFKEX fuel bundle is attributed to the lower linear power of the CANFLEX fuel bundle compared with the standard fuel bundle.