Enlarged Halden programme group meeting on high burn-up fuel performance, safety and reliability and degradation of in-core materials and water chemistry effects and man-machine systems research. Volume I

An Enlarged Halden Programme Group Meeting on Fuel Performance and Materials Testing and Man-Machine Research was held at Loen, Norway 24 to 29 May, 1999. The papers presented covered work performed at the OECD Halden Reactor Project during the years up to April 1999 as well as studies conducted within organisations participating in the Halden Project. The Halden Boiling Water Reactor, HBWR, was built in the years 1955 - 1958 by the Norwegian Institutt for Atomenergi, and has since 1958 been operated internationally as one of the joint undertakings of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. The experimental operation of the Halden Boiling Water Reactor and associated programmes are sponsored through an international agreement by Institute for energy technology, Norway, the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK/CEN, acting also on behalf of other public or private organisations in Belgium, the Risoe National Laboratory in Denmark, the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Electricite de France, the Gesellschaft fur Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) mbH, representing a German group of companies working in agreement with the German Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology, the Italian Ente per le Nouve Tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente, the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute, the Spanish Centre de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologias, representing a group of national and industry organisations in Spain, the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, representing also the Swiss nuclear utilities and the Paul Scherrer Institute, the Nuclear Electric pic, representing a group of nuclear research and industry organisations in the United Kingdom, and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and as associated parties: the Brazilian Comissao Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), the Czech Nuclear Research Institute, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, KFKI Atomic Energy Research Institute, the N.V. KEMA, the Netherlands, the Russian Research Centre 'Kurchatov Institute', the Slovakian VUJE - Nuclear Power Plant Research Institute, and from USA: the ABB Combustion Engineering Inc., the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the General Electric Co. The right to utilise information originating from the research work of the Halden Project is limited to persons and undertakings specifically given this right by one of these Project member organisations. The activities in the area of fuel and materials performance are based on extensive in-reactor measurements. The programmes are expanding in the areas of fuel performance at extended burn-ups, waterside corrosion and material testing in general. Development of in-core instruments is an important activity in support of the experimental programmes. The research programme at the Halden Project addresses the research needs of the nuclear industry in connection with introduction of digital I and C systems in NPPs. The programme provides information supporting design and licensing of upgraded, computer-based control room systems, and demonstrates the benefits of such systems through validation experiments in Halden's experimental research facility, HAMMLAB and pilot installations in NPPs. The Enlarged Halden Programme Group Meeting at Loen, Norway, was arranged to provide an opportunity to present results of work carried out at Halden and within participating organisations, and to encourage comments and impulses related to future Halden Project work. This HPR-351 relates to the fuel and materials part of the meeting and is divided in two volumes, HPR-351 Volume I and HPR-351 Volume II. The corresponding collection of papers in the man-machine area are given in one volume, HPR-352 Volume I. The overall programme of the Loen Enlarged Meeting covering the Fuel and Materials Research is given in the following pages. The papers with denomination HWR have been issued earlier as Halden Work Reports. All the other papers are collected in their original form in the two HPR-351 volumes (author) (ml)