Highly corrosion resistant fuel can for nuclear fuel, spacer, channel box and the fuel assembly, as well as manufacturing method therefor

At least one of a fuel can, a spacer and a channel box constituting a fuel assembly is formed by using a specific zirconium base alloy. The zirconium base alloy comprises 1 - 2% of tin, 0.20 - 0.35% of iron, and 0.03 - 0.16% of nickel on the weight basis, and substantial balance of zirconium, in which the ratio (iron/nickel) is from 1.4 to 10. Then, the zirconium base alloy is heated, held in a short period of time and then quenched in a temperature region including β-phase or α-phase and β-phase after final hot plastic fabrication and before first cold plastic fabrication. Then, cold plastic fabrication and annealing are repeated alternately to form a thin walled material of the zirconium base alloy. Subsequently, molding fabrication is applied to form a fuel assembly. This suppresses occurrence of nodular-corrosion, thereby enabling to improve corrosion resistance and hydrogen absorbing performance. (I.N.)