CALCULATION OF NUCLEAR FUEL CLADDING INTERNAL COATING THICKNESS FOR EMERGENCY RESISTANT NUCLEAR FUEL ELEMENT

Abstract

Link for citation: Rofida Hamad Khalifa Hamad, Nikitenkov N.N., Kudiyarov V.N. Calculation of nuclear fuel cladding internal coating thickness for emergency resistant nuclear fuel element. Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Аssets Engineering, 2023, vol. 334, no. 6, рр.27-34. In Rus. The relevance of the study lies in the need to create an emergency resistant fuel for nuclear reactors, based on the study of the consequences of accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima. The specific problem to which the work is devoted is the creation of thin-film chromium coatings on the inside of nuclear fuel element tubes, which is one of the directions for creating an emergency resistant core of a nuclear reactor. The main aim of the research is to determine the minimum thickness of the chromium coating necessary for adequate protection of the inner side of the fuel rod cladding from nuclear fuel fission fragments. Methods: a well-developed (more than 60 years of improvement) and widely known and recognized software package to simulate the physical processes of radiation and accelerated particle transport in solids using Monte Carlo statistics. The determination of the minimum thickness of the chromium coating to ensure protection of the inner side of the fuel element cladding from the main group of high-energy fission fragments of nuclear fuel was carried out on the basis of calculations using the TRIM program (from the SRIM package). 97Tc, 98Mo, 102Ru, 103Rh, 106Pd, 127I, 133Cs were selected as bombarding the coating from their wide range of nuclear fuel fission fragments, as the most high-energy and at the same time, having different chemical properties. Results. It was found that the minimum thickness of chromium required to provide adequate protection of the inner surface of the fuel tube from the main fission fragments of the U235O2 fuel is 9 µm. Experimental data confirming this result are presented.