Artigo de peri??dico
Effectiveness of Ni-based and Fe-based cladding alloys in delaying hydrogen generation for small modular reactors with increased accident tolerance
Registro en:
1738-5733
1
55
10.1016/j.net.2022.09.002
86.8
75
Autor
AVELAR, ALAN M.
CAMARGO, FABIO de
SILVA, VANESSA S.P. da
GIOVEDI, CLAUDIA
ABE, ALFREDO
MOURAO, MARCELO B.
Resumen
This study investigates the high temperature oxidation behaviour of a Ni???20Cr-1.2Si (wt.%) alloy in steam from 1200 ??C to 1350 ??C by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The results demonstrate that exposed Ni-based alloy developed a thin oxide scale, consisted mainly of Cr2O3. The oxidation kinetics obtained from the experimental results was applied to evaluate the hydrogen generation considering a simplified reactor core model with different cladding alloys following an unmitigated Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) scenario in a hypothetical Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Overall, experimental data and simulations results show that both Fe-based and Ni-based alloys may enhance cladding survivability, delaying its melting, as well as reducing hydrogen generation under accident conditions compared to Zr-based alloys. However, a substantial neutron absorption occurs when Ni-based alloys are used as cladding for current uranium-dioxide fuel systems, even when compared to Fe-based alloys.