Areva and Westinghouse planning fuel tests for 2019

摘要

Areva NP announced on July 12 that it plans to load advanced fuel assemblies developed through the Department of Energy's Enhanced Accident Tolerant Fuel program in Georgia Power's Vogtle-2 in spring 2019. The Areva NP team will load four lead test assemblies featuring chromia additions to the fuel pellets and a chromium coating on the fuel rod cladding. The chromia-doped fuel pellets have a higher density and help reduce fission gas release in the event of a loss-of-coolant accident, and the chromium coating on the zirconium alloy cladding improves high-temperature oxidation resistance and reduces hydrogen generation, allowing for higher coping time and additional resistance to debris-fretting.