Hydriding Failure Analysis Based on PIE Data

Recently failures of nuclear fuel rods in Korean nuclear power plants were reported and their failure causes have been investigated by using PIE techniques. Destructive and physico-chemical examinations reveal that the clad hydriding phenomena had caused the rod failures primarily and secondarily in each case. In this study, the basic mechanisms of the primary and the secondary hydriding failures are reviewed, PIE data such as cladding inner and outer surface oxide thickness and the restructuring of the fuel pellets are analyzed, and they are compared with the predicted behaviors by a fuel performance code. In addition, post-defected fuel behaviors are reviewed and qualitatively analyzed. The results strongly support that the hydriding processes, primary and secondary, played critical roles in the respective fuel rods failures and the secondary hydriding failure can take place even in the fuel rod with low linear heat generation rate.