Development of failed fuel database and hydriding failure analysis

Nuclear fuel failure is one of the critical issues in the nuclear power operation since it brings about the reduced power operation and the potential threat to safe operation. Since 1979 nuclear power plants have been operating in Korea and experiencing a variety of PWR nuclear fuels designed and manufactured by several fuel vendors, foreign or domestic. In this study, PC-based a database for failed nuclear fuel, called Korea Nuclear Fuel Database (KNFDB), is developed using relational database system. KNFDB contains a number of detailed information on the fuel failures that had occurred since 1986 in Korean nuclear power plants: nuclear design, fuel design, power history, coolant activity data, visual inspection, etc. It will provide the statistical basis for R and D of high performance fuel and expertise for preparation for the remedy of damaged fuel on site. As an example of the applications, hydriding failure case is chosen for the analysis in the KNFDB. In this analysis it is found that hydriding failures have certain characteristics and the properties in the post-defective fuel deviates from the intact fuels