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The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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NRC v. Texas: Supreme Court weighs challenge to NRC authority in spent fuel storage case
The State of Texas has not one but two ongoing federal court challenges to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that could, if successful, turn decades of NRC regulations, precedent, and case law on its head.
David Halabuk, Tomas Navrat
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 189 | Number 1 | January 2018 | Pages 69-81
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2017.1373518
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a thermomechanical assessment of various types of fuel cladding during a reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) which is simulated by the finite element analysis program ANSYS. Four cladding concepts are analyzed; one concept considers currently used zirconium alloy and three concepts consider silicon carbide (SiC) material. The SiC claddings consist either of composite material or of a two-layered structure formed of SiC composite and monolithic SiC. Each cladding is analyzed for two states of nuclear fuel: fresh and high burnup. A gap that exists between fuel pellets and cladding in fresh state is either reduced or removed in a high burnup state. It was shown that zirconium cladding resists RIA conditions very well in fresh state, however, in high burnup state significant stress and plastic strain occur. The SiC cladding was shown to have many advantages over zirconium alloy. Nevertheless, its lower strength appears to be critical in RIA conditions when cladding needs to withstand exceeding loading after the fuel-cladding gap disappears due to the expansion of the fuel pellet.