NEA-1625 IFPE/GAIN.

1. NAME:  IFPE/GAIN.

3. DESCRIPTION

These fuel performance data concern 4 Gd2O3 doped UO2 rods irradiated in the BelgoNucleaire GAIN Project. The rods are identified as rods 9, 10, 11 and 12 or GD0301,GD0302, GD0701 and GD0702. GD0301 and GD0302 contain pellets doped with 3wt% Gd2O3 and rods GD0701 and GD0702 contain 7wt% doped pellets.

All rods were irradiated in BR3 to a final burn-up of approaching 40 MWd/kgU. In addition, rod GD701 underwent 2 overpower transients in BR2. The sequence of irradiation, and the reports covering these periods is given below:  

1) All rods irradiated in BR3 cycle 4C,     GN85-08
2) GD0701 rod 11 transient tested in BR2,   GN84-13
3) All rods irradiated in BR3 cycle 4D1,    GN86-29
4) GD0701 transient tested in BR2,          GN86-25
5) All rods irradiated in BR3 cycle 4D2,    GN88-40

Non destructive PIE was performed at the end of each irradiation measuring: creep-down, rod and fuel length changes. After final discharge, destructive PIE was performed either at PSI in Switzerland or Windscale in the UK.

Maximum and rod average burn-up (MWd/kgM) at end-of-cycles:

Rod                ----BR3/4C----   ----BR3/4D1----  ----BR3/4D2----
                    av.     max      av.      max      av.      max
GD0301  rod 9       13.7    18.3     26.2     34.2     38.8     49.7
GD0302  rod 10      13.9    18.5     26.2     34.2     37.9     48.6
GD0701  rod 11      13.0    17.7     25.9     33.9     38.9     49.9
GD0702  rod 12      12.7    17.2     25.7     33.6     38.9     49.8


Conditions for first transient after cycle 4C, GD0701 rod 11.

Parameter                 Pre-conditioning stage  Transient
Peak pellet power  kW/m           16.3            26.5
Positive ramp rate kW/m/s          -              0.29
Hold time at power                ~4 days         ~ 1 min
Ramp down          kW/m/s                         0.75      

Unperturbed thermal neutron flux at 100% reactor power    
  = 1.82E14 n/cm2/s
Unperturbed epithermal neutronflux at 100% reactor power
  = 0.083E14 n/cm2/s  


Conditions for second transient after cycle 4D1, GD0701 rod 11.

Parameter                 Pre-conditioning   Transient
                              stage        
Peak pellet power  kW/m        18.2          34.0
Positive ramp rate kW/m/s       -      0.05 between 18.2 & 21.2 kW/m
                                       1.0  above 21.2 kW/m
Hold time at power             21.5 h        ~ 55 secs
Ramp down          kW/m/s                      1.0      

Unperturbed thermal neutron flux at 100% reactor power    
   = 3.04E14 n/cm2/s
Unperturbed epithermal neutron flux at 100% reactor power
   = 0.179E14 n/cm2/s

- M. Boulanger and M. Lippens:
Intermediate neutronic report after the BN2 rods irradiation in BR3/4C (GN 85/08
Fabrication and characterization data of BN2 U02-Gd203 fuel rods (GN 84/10).
Intermediate non-destructive examinations on the BN2 rods no 11 and 12 after
BR3/4C irradiation- BR2 power transient on rod no 11 and non-destructive
examinations (GN 84/13).
Fast operational transients in BR2 using PWCKCDNNS devices (GN 84/14).
Fast operational transients in BR2 on fuel rods no 11, 27 and 31 of the GAIN
test matrix (GN 86/24).
Non destructive examinations on rod 11 before and after the BR2 power
transient (GN 86/25).
Neutronic Report concerning the Irradiation of GAIN Fuel Rods in the Cycle
4Dl of the BR3 Core (GN 86/29).
Neutronic report concerning the irradiation of GAIN fuel rods in the cycle 4D2
of the BR3 reactor (GN 88/40).
Final non-destructive examinations of the BN2 fuel rods after irradiation in
BR3/4D2 core (GN 88/41).
Post-irradiation examination of the three fuel rods comprising Task 3 of the
GAIN programme : rods no 5, 12 and 29 (GN 89/50).
Destructive examinations on the BN2, GE5 and NF17 fuel rods no 9, 10, 11,
23, 24 and 33 (GN 91/60).

15. NAME AND ESTABLISHMENT OF AUTHORS

Belgonucleaire
Avenue Ariane, 4
B-1200, Brussels
Belgium

Compilation: J.A. Turnbull

SUMMARY.TXT   Text file giving a description of the irradiation
CHAR-DAT.TXT   Pre-characterization data for pellets cladding and each fuel rod
301.HIS     File containing irradiation histories for each rod 301
302.HIS     File containing irradiation histories for each rod 302
701.HIS     File containing irradiation histories for each rod 701
702.HIS     File containing irradiation histories for each rod 702
NDT&PIE.TXT     Text file containing non destructive and destructive measurements
QA Report GAIN.pdf      Quality Assurance Report (PDF Version)
QA Report GAIN.doc      Quality Assurance Report (Word Version)
README.TXT Readme file
GAIN-Data-F.htm Content of package (html file)
GN84-10.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN84-13.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN84-14.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN85-08.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN86-24.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN86-25.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN86-29.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN88-40.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN88-41.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN89-50.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)
GN91-60.PDF Primary documentation (PDF format)