Computer code for thermomechanic simulation of light water reactor fuel element behaviour, and its testing

Program PIN is described for thermomechanic modelling of light water reactor fuel rod behaviour, developed using the GAPCON-THERMAL-2 Code. Main attention is devoted to code evaluation and code accuracy in fuel temperature and fission gas release predictions. A comparison is made with experiments and some sophisticated integral fuel rod performance codes used in other countries. The results of this study confirmed acceptable accuracy of code PIN, comparable with the other codes considered, a significantly lower demand on computer time, and suitability for further improvements. (author)