Recent studies on potential accident-tolerant fuel-cladding systems in light water reactors

摘要

Accident-tolerant fuel(ATF)has attracted considerable research attention since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.To improve the accident tolerance of the fuel-cladding systems in the current light-water reactors,it is proposed to develop and deploy(1)an enhanced Zrbased alloy or coated zircaloy for the fuel cladding,(2)alternative cladding materials with better accident tolerance,and(3)alternative fuels with enhanced accident tolerance and/or a higher U density.This review presents the features of the current UO2-zircaloy system.Different techniques and characters to develop coating materials and enhanced Zr-based alloys are summarized.The features of several selected alternative fuels and cladding materials are reviewed and discussed.The neutronic evaluations of alternative fuel-cladding systems are analyzed.It is expected that one or more types of ATF-cladding systems discussed in the present review will be implemented in commercial reactors.