Fuel safety criteria in NEA member countries - Compilation of responses received from member countries
Description
In 2001 the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) issued a report on Fuel Safety Criteria Technical Review. The objective was to review the present fuel safety criteria and judge to which extent they are affected by the 'new' design elements, such as different cladding materials, higher burnup, the use of MOX fuels, etc. The report stated that the current framework of fuel safety criteria remains generally applicable, being largely unaffected by the 'new' or modern design elements. The levels (numbers) in the individual safety criteria may, however, change in accordance with the particular fuel and core design features. Some of these levels have already been - or are continuously being - adjusted. The level adjustments of several other criteria (RIA, LOCA) also appears to be needed, on the basis of experimental data and the analysis thereof. As a follow-up, among its first tasks, the CSNI Special Expert Group on Fuel Safety Margins (SEG FSM) initiated the collection of information on the present fuel safety criteria used in NEA member states with the objective to solicit national practices in the use of fuel safety criteria, in particular to get information on their specific national levels/values, including their recent adjustments, and to identify the differences and commonalties between the different countries. Two sources of information were used to produce this report: a compilation of responses to a questionnaire prepared for the June 2000 CNRA meeting, and individual responses from the SEGFSM members to the new revised questionnaire issued by the task Force preparing this report. In accordance with the latter, the fuel safety criteria discussed in this report were divided into three categories: (A) safety criteria - criteria imposed by the regulator; (B) operational criteria - specific to the fuel design and provided by the fuel vendor as part of the licensing basis; (C) design criteria - limits employed by vendors and/or utilities for fuel and core design. Based on the responses submitted, the report provides a brief overview of the current fuel safety criteria used in NEA member countries along with the identification of the effects of 'new' elements, if any. The main body of the report consists of separate tables for each criterion listed, followed by the synthesis of responses to the two above-mentioned questionnaires. The comparison of national fuel safety criteria in NEA member countries shows that the basic set of 'safety' criteria is quite similar. Also the specific levels of many of these criteria are practically identical, e.g. for the LOCA criteria. However, in some cases the criteria levels differ from country to country, in particular with the specific fuel and core design features and also due to different progress in the understanding of the impact of the 'new' elements, in particular the effect of high burnup. A number of tables are empty as no information was provided for those particular criteria. There might be two explanations for this: the criteria are not used or they are the subject of proprietary information by fuel vendors. The differences in criteria levels indicate the areas where further international co-operation would be worthwhile in order to get a better understanding of the reasons for national differences and/or to contribute to better harmonization in criteria levels among the NEA member countries. These areas will be the focus of future SEFG FSM activities
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Additional details
Publishing Information
- Imprint Pagination
- 125 p.
- Report number
- NEA-CSNI-R--2003-10
INIS
- Country of Publication
- Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD (NEA)
- Country of Input or Organization
- Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD (NEA)
- INIS RN
- 41041100
- Subject category
- NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; ENGINEERING; MATERIALS SCIENCE;
- Quality check status
- Yes
- Descriptors DEI
- BURNUP; CONTROL ROD WORTHS; CRITICALITY; DESIGN; DYNAMIC LOADS; ELONGATION; FAILURES; FATIGUE; FRETTING CORROSION; FUEL CANS; HYDRIDES; INTERSTITIAL HYDROGEN GENERATION; NUCLEAR FUELS; OPERATION; OXIDATION; REACTIVITY COEFFICIENTS; SAFETY MARGINS; STRAINS; STRESSES;
- Descriptors DEC
- CHEMICAL REACTIONS; CORROSION; DEFORMATION; ENERGY SOURCES; FUELS; HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS; MATERIALS; MECHANICAL PROPERTIES; PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS; RADIATION EFFECTS; REACTOR MATERIALS;
Optional Information
- Notes
- 1 ref.