Out-of-pile RandD on chromium coated nuclear fuel zirconium based claddings for enhanced accident tolerance in LWRs

J.-C. Brachet (1) , I. Idarraga (1) , M. Le Flem (1) , Matthieu Le Saux (1) , F. Schuster (1) , F. Lomello (1) , J. Bischoff (1) , C. Delafoy (2) , E. Pouillier (3)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)
2 AREVA NP - Centre Technique (FRANCE)
3 EDF R&D - EDF R&D

In the framework of the CEA/AREVA/EDF French nuclear institute, coatings (with thicknesses of a few microns up to $\sim$20$\mu$m) on zirconium alloy cladding have been studied with the objective to provide a significant reduction in the embrittlement of the cladding in accidental conditions, such as the lossof-coolant accident (LOCA). Early studies performed at CEA on several types of coatings obtained by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) process, including ceramic nitride and metallic multi-layered coatings, are discussed in a first part of this paper. The results of this screening analysis showed that chromium coatings have exhibited the best compromise between oxidation resistance and adhesion of the coating. In a second part, the present paper gives an overview of out-of-pile results obtained so far on Cr-coated Zircaloy 4 cladding in both nominal and accidental (LOCA) conditions

Keywords: Accident Tolerant Fuel; Light Water Reactors; Chromium coating on zirconium nuclear fuel cladding; LOCA; Nominal corrosion; High temperature steam oxidation

Domains: Physics [physics]; Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Physics [physics]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]

J.-C. Brachet, I. Idarraga, M. Le Flem, Matthieu Le Saux, F. Schuster, et al.. Out-of-pile RandD on chromium coated nuclear fuel zirconium based claddings for enhanced accident tolerance in LWRs. 18th International Symposium on Zirconium in the Nuclear Industry, May 2016, Hilton Head, United States. ⟨cea-02500847⟩