Program improvement and applications

An account is given about further improvements of the SAS4A-Ref. 94.R0 version of the HCDA code. They concern in particular the DEFORM fuel rod deformation module. For a validation of the new code version, various CABRI experiments have been calculated, especially tests with high burnup fuel rods. Progress was shown to be achieved, but the precise timing and location of the observed fuel failures is still hard to calculate. The work was performed in close cooperation with partners in France, Britain, and Japan. An important application concerns the CAPRA project of a reactor for actinide burning. Its behavior under ULOF conditions was analyzed using the improved SAS4A Ref. 94 R0 code. The core design turned out to tend toward a long-term coolable configuration even more so than the EFR core design would do in an ULOF. (orig.)