• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.223-228
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• 2018

AREVA NP (Courbevoie, Paris, France) is actively developing several enhanced accident-tolerant fuels cladding concepts ranging from near-term evolutionary (Cr-coated zirconium alloy cladding) to long-term revolutionary (SiC/SiC composite cladding) solutions, relying on its worldwide teams and partnerships, with programs and irradiations planned both in Europe and the United States. The most advanced and mature solution is a dense, adherent chromium coating on zirconium alloy cladding, which was initially developed along with the CEA and EDF in the French joint nuclear R&D program. The evaluation of the out-of-pile behavior of the Cr-coated cladding showed excellent results, suggesting enhanced reliability, enhanced operational flexibility, and improved economics in normal operating conditions. For example, because chromium is harder than zirconium, the Cr coating provides the cladding with a significantly improved wear resistance. Furthermore, Cr-coated samples exhibit extremely low corrosion kinetics in autoclave and prevents accelerated corrosion in harsh environments such as in water with 70 ppm Li leading to improved operational flexibility. Finally, AREVA NP has fabricated a physical vapor deposition prototype machine to coat full-length cladding tubes. This machine will be used for the manufacturing of full-length lead test rods in commercial reactors by 2019.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.292-296
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• 2018

Recent events in the nuclear industry have resulted in a movement towards increased seismic and LOCA excitations and requirements that challenge current fuel designs. AREVA NP's GAIA fuel design introduces unique and robust characteristics to resist the effects of seismic and LOCA excitations. For demanding seismic and LOCA scenarios, fuel assembly spacer grids can undergo plastic deformations. These plastic deformations must not prohibit the complete insertion of the control rod assemblies and the cooling of the fuel rods after the accident. The specific structure of the GAIA spacer grid produces a unique and stable compressive deformation mode which maintains the regular array of the fuel rods and guide tubes. The stability of the spacer grid allows it to absorb a significant amount of energy without a loss of load-carrying capacity. The GAIA-specific grid behavior is in contrast to the typical spacer grid, which is characterized by a buckling instability. The increased mechanical robustness of the GAIA spacer grid is advantageous in meeting the increased seismic and LOCA loadings and the associated safety requirements. The unique GAIA spacer grid behavior will be incorporated into AREVA NP's licensed methodologies to take full benefit of the increased mechanical robustness.

• Nuclear industry
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• v.27 no.9 s.295
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• pp.70-73
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• 2007

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.765-774
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• 2009

For over 30 years, investigations of the thermohydraulic behavior of pressurized-water reactors under accident conditions have been carried out in the PKL test facility at AREVA NP in Erlangen, Germany. The PKL facility models the entire primary side and significant parts of the secondary side of a of pressurized water reactor at a height scale of 1:1. Volumes, power ratings and mass flows are scaled with a ratio of 1:145. The experimental facility consists of four primary loops with circulation pumps and steam generators (SGs) arranged symmetrically around the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). The investigations carried out encompass a very broad spectrum from accident scenario simulations with large, medium, and small breaks, over the investigation of shutdown procedures after a wide variety of accidents, to the systematic investigation of complex thermohydraulic phenomena. The PKL tests began in the mid 1970s with the support of the German Research Ministry. Since the mid 1980s, the project has also been significantly supported by the German PWR operators. Since 2001, 25 partner organizations from 15 countries have taken part in the PKL investigations with the support and mediation of the OECD/ NEA (Nuclear Energy Agency). After an overview of PKL history and a short description of the facility, this paper focuses on the investigations carried out since the beginning of the international cooperation, and shows, by means of some examples, what insights can be derived from the tests.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2009

Since the 90's, EDF and AREVA-NP have irradiated, up to very high burnups, lead assemblies housing $M5^{(R)}$ cladded fuels. Post-irradiation examination of high burnup $UO_2$ pellets show an increase in the fission-gas release rate, an increase in fuel swelling, and formation of fission-gas bubbles throughout the pellets. Xenon abundances were quantified, and phenomena leading to this bubble formation were identified. All examinations provided valuable data on the complex state of the fuel during irradiation. They show the good behavior of these fuels, exhibiting various microstructures at very high burnups, none of which is likely to lead to problems during irradiation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.268-279
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• 2018

The ALCYONE multidimensional fuel performance code codeveloped by the CEA, EDF, and AREVA NP within the PLEIADES software environment models the behavior of fuel rods during irradiation in commercial pressurized water reactors (PWRs), power ramps in experimental reactors, or accidental conditions such as loss of coolant accidents or reactivity-initiated accidents (RIAs). As regards the latter case of transient in particular, ALCYONE is intended to predictively simulate the response of a fuel rod by taking account of mechanisms in a way that models the physics as closely as possible, encompassing all possible stages of the transient as well as various fuel/cladding material types and irradiation conditions of interest. On the way to complying with these objectives, ALCYONE development and validation shall include tests on $PWR-UO_2$ fuel rods with advanced claddings such as M5(R) under "low pressure-low temperature" or "high pressure-high temperature" water coolant conditions. This article first presents ALCYONE V1.4 RIA-related features and modeling. It especially focuses on recent developments dedicated on the one hand to nonsteady water heat and mass transport and on the other hand to the modeling of grain boundary cracking-induced fission gas release and swelling. This article then compares some simulations of RIA transients performed on $UO_2$-M5(R) fuel rods in flowing sodium or stagnant water coolant conditions to the relevant experimental results gained from tests performed in either the French CABRI or the Japanese NSRR nuclear transient reactor facilities. It shows in particular to what extent ALCYONE-starting from base irradiation conditions it itself computes-is currently able to handle both the first stage of the transient, namely the pellet-cladding mechanical interaction phase, and the second stage of the transient, should a boiling crisis occur. Areas of improvement are finally discussed with a view to simulating and analyzing further tests to be performed under prototypical PWR conditions within the CABRI International Program. M5(R) is a trademark or a registered trademark of AREVA NP in the USA or other countries.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.237-248
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• 2007

Sodium-cooled fast reactor is considered in France as a potential candidate for a prototype of 4th generation system to be built by 2020. A detailed working program has been launched recently to identify by 2012 the potential improvement tracks for later industrial development of these reactors. The goals for innovation are first identified: Progress of the safety with a special attention to severe accidents risk minimization and mitigation (defense in depth approach); Economic competitiveness of the system mainly by reducing the capital cost, the investment risks by enhancing in service inspection and repair capacities, and raising the availability; Sustainability with fissile material management while reducing the proliferation risk; capacity for long-lived waste transmutation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.721-730
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• 2013

Within the framework of the ASTRID project, core design studies are being conducted by the CEA with support from AREVA and EDF. The pre-conceptual design studies are being conducted in accordance with the GEN IV reactor objectives, particularly in terms of improving safety. This involves limiting the consequences of 1) a hypothetical control rod withdrawal accident (by minimizing the core reactivity loss during the irradiation cycle), and 2) an hypothetical loss-of-flow accident (by reducing the sodium void worth). Two types of cores are being studied for the ASTRID project. The first is based on a 'large pin/small spacing wire' concept derived from the SFR V2b, while the other is based on an innovative CFV design. A distinctive feature of the CFV core is its negative sodium void worth. In 2011, the evaluation of a preliminary version (v1) of this CFV core for ASTRID underlined its potential capacity to improve the prevention of severe accidents. An improved version of the ASTRID CFV core (v2) was proposed in 2012 to comply with all the control rod withdrawal criteria, while increasing safety margins for all unprotected-loss-of-flow (ULOF) transients and improving the general design. This paper describes the CFV v2 design options and reports on the progress of the studies at the end of pre-conceptual design phase 1 concerning: - Core performance, - Intrinsic behavior during unprotected transients, - Simulation of severe accident scenarios, - Qualification requirements. The paper also specifies the open options for the materials, sub-assemblies, absorbers, and core monitoring that will continue to be studied during the conceptual design phase.