Structural analysis of fuel assembly clads for the Upgraded Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT Upgrade)

The Upgraded Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT Upgrade) is designed to test full-length, pre-irradiated fuel pins of the type used in large LMFBRs under accident conditions, such as severe transient overpower and loss-of-coolant accidents. In TREAT Upgrade, the central core region is to contain new fuel assemblies of higher fissile loadings to maximize the energy deposition to the test fuel. These fuel assemblies must withstand normal peak clad temperatures of 8500C for hundreds of test transients. Due to high temperatures and gradients predicted in the clad, creep and plastic strain effects are significant, and the clad structural behavior cannot be analyzed by conventional linear techniques. Instead, the detailed elastic-plastic-creep behavior must be followed along the time-dependent load history. This paper presents details of the structural evaluations of the conceptual TREAT Upgrade fuel assembly clads