LOCA Rupture Strains and Coolability of Full-Length PWR Fuel Bundles

The LOCA Simulation Program tests sponsored by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission are the first full-length nuclear-heated experiments designed to investigate the deformation and rupture characteristics as well as the coolability of nuclear-heated fuel under accident conditions. The results of the seven tests preformed in the program using 32-rod full-length PWR fuel bundles have shown that for a wide range of flow blockage condtions no significant reduction in coolability of the fuel bundle could be found. These results have been confirmed by data from out-of-pile electrically-heated experiments. Although there is a difference between nuclear and electrically-heated test data, the conclusion is still the same. Coolability of a deformed bundle during reflood is dominated by the dispersion of droplets in the deformed zone which provides adequate cooling and which is not reduced by the deformation of the fuel rod cladding.