ML20059L134

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Forwards Copy of GE Rept Providing Update Re GE Experience W/Bwr Fuel Through Dec 1988
ML20059L134
Person / Time
Site: 05000605
Issue date: 11/02/1989
From: Charnley J
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
To: Rosalyn Jones
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML20058L685 List:
References
JSC-89114, MFN-081-89, MFN-81-89, NUDOCS 9402030205
Download: ML20059L134 (10)
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0-4 GE Nuclear Ene 5; ,

November 2, 1989 MFN 081-89 JSC-89114 US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation t Mail Station Pl-137 Washington, DC 20555 Attention: R. C. Jones, Jr.

Chief Reactor Systems Branch

Subject:

EXPERIENCE WITH BWR FUEL THROUGH DECEMBER 1988 Gentlemen:

Enclosed is a copy of the GE report providing an update of .GE's experience with BWR fuel through December 1988. It is being sent to you at your request for use 'in the preparation of your annual fuel performance report. .

Ple se contact me if you have any questions.

p 'l l rl i . Charnley, yger fuel Licensing ~

Mail Code 687, Phone (408)925-3697 Enclosure rmW cc L. S. Gifford S. Wu (NRC) i 9402030205 911025 PDR ADOCK 05000605 A PDR

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EXPERIENCE k'ITH Ek'R ITEL  :

O THROUGH DECEMBER 1988 L

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i I. Introduction

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This information report provides an updated review of General Electric experience with production and developmental BUR Zircaloy clad UO 2 fuel-rods through December 1988. This experience includes successful commer- y cial reactor operation of fuel bundles to greater than 45,000 mwd /MTU >

bundle average exposure (approximately 60.000 mwd /MTU peak pellet exposure). ,

The performance of General Electric 8XS fuel types continues to be highly successful as demonstrated by a 1988 fuel rod reliability rate of greater than 99.974. t r

II. General Electric B'JF Fuel Exnerience Base As of December 31, 1988, over 3.5 million General Electric SXS fuel type  ;

production Zircaloy-clad UO p fuel rods were in, or had completed, opera-g tion in commercial BWRs. Figure 1 shows cumulative BX8 fuel rods loaded as a function of calendar year. As of December 31, 1988, over-1.48 mil-lion General Electric fuel rods were in operation. Figure 2 illustrates l

General Electric's core loadings by fuel type as a function of calendar year. As of December 31, 1988, General Electric had loaded approximately 900,000 pellet cladding interaction (PCI) resistant barrier fuel rods in commerci al B'*R 's . The General Electric fuel manufacturing facility in -

Wilmington, North Carolina, is producing 100% of its 1989 load as barrier

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fuel, iemonstrating the overall customer acceptance of this fuel design.

In 198t, sixteen domestic and ten overseas GE BWR plants had refueling 3 outages with over 3300 new GE SXB fuel bundles loaded. Over 50% (or 11 reloads) of this new fuel loaded was GE's latest production fuel design (GEBX8EE). I III . In-Peact or Surveillance Procrars and Sumsarv of Surveillance Results - ',

One of the most inportant aspects of the General Electric fuel design process is the in-reactor performance monitoring of a design before and after its introduction. In keeping with the General Electric philosophy  !

of test-before-use, lead test assemblies (LTA's) containing selected ke;, '

design features are used to demonstrate the satisfactory performance of  !

these features and to provide lead experience for future production fuel .

.he fuel surveillance program adopted by General Electric and accepted by .

the SRC is described in References 1 through 4.

A summary of General Electric's lead test assembly surveillance program is contained in Table 1. Examination results are provided below: ,

A. Barrier Fuel Prorran The goal of this prngram was the demonstration of a Pellet Cladding [

Interaction (PCI) resistant fuel under conditions which would provide  ;

statistically significant results. The PCI-resistant fuel features the barrier concept to protect the fuel cladding from failure caused by PCI. The barrier fuel program consisted of four-lead test assemblies, ~!

loaded into Quad cities-1 in 1979 at the beginning of cycle 5, and a 7 demonstration reload of 144 bundles with Zr-lined cladding placed into the core at Quad Cities-2 in 1981 at the beginning of cycle C.

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e The barrier LTA's at Quad Cities-1 operated for 4 or 5 cycles and underwent four poolside examinations consisting of visual inspections and non-destructive testing of selected fuel rods. These examinations revealed that the1 bundles and individual fuel rods exhibited charac-  !

teristics typical of normal operation.

The Quad Cities 2 barrier fuel program was designed to subject the barrier cladding fuel to significant power increases in order to demonstrate the PCI resistance of barrier fuel. Two power increase demonstrations were performed; the first in 1983 at the end of Cycle 6  :

and the second in 1985 at the end of Lycle ?. Sixteen barrier bundles -'

were involved in each demonstration, During the following plant outage, all demonstration barrier bundles were evaluated by vacuum offgas sipping and determined to be sound, Subsequent to the power increase demonstrations, all PCIOMR operating restrictions were removed from the barrier fuel bundles in the core. Plant.offgas sur-veillance indicates that all fuel bundles in the core continue to ,

operate reliably. Of the 144 bundles in the reload 132 operated for 3 cycles, 84 operated for 4 cycles, and the remaining 28-bundles are operating in their 5th cycle. i B. Improved Desirn Feature Lead Test Assemblies Several Lead Test Assemblies have been designed and placed in opera-tion for the purpose of obtaining experience and performance data on '

new product design features. These LTAs have undergone extensive pre- '

irradiation characterization, with plans for interim poolside exarina-tions. These Improved Design Feature LTAs include:

1, 19F2 Lead Test Asserblies Eight LTAs were loaded into Browns Terry-3 in 1982 at the beginning of Cycle 5. Design features tested include fuel rod helium prepres- i surization, cladding surface treatment, axial zoning of gadolinia, .

cladding thickness, and pellet density. A poolside examination of i these bundles was completed in June 1984, after the first cycle of j operation, and showed characteristics typical of normal operation.

Browns Ferry-3 operated briefly in Cycle 6 before administrative shut down and has not operated since that time (March 1984).

2. 1983 Lead Test Asserblies .

Four LTAs were loaded into Peach Bottom-3 in 1983 at the beginning i of Cycle 6. Design features-tested include improved spacer and upper tie plate, axial zoning of gadolinia, cladding-thickness', j pellet dinensions, and fuel rod helium prepressurization. The first ~

poolside examination of these bundles was completed in August 1985, after one cycle of operation, and showed characteristics typical of .;

normal operation. The second poolside examination was completed in November 1987, after two cycles of operation, and shoued charac- '

teristics typical of two cycles of normal operation.' Peach Bottor-3 has not returned to service since its refueling outage at the end of Cycle 7 in April 1987. *

3. 19Pa L*ad Tert Assenblies I

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Five LTAs were loaded into Duane Arnold in 1985 at the beginning of Cycle 8. Features tested include water rod configuration, improved spacer and upper tie plate, cladding surface treatment, axial zoning of gadolinia, fuel rod helium prepressurization, pellet  ;

dimensions, and pellet density. The first poolside examination of these bundles was completed in April 1987, after.one cycle of operation, and showed characteristics typical of normal operation. +

The second poolside examination was completed in October 1988, after two cycles of operation, and showed characteristics typical of two cycles of normal operation. The next poolside examination is' scheduled in 1990 after the third cycle of operation.

4 loF7 Lead Test Asserblies Four LTAs were loaded into Hatch-1 in 1987 at the beginning of .;

Cycle 11. These fuel assemblies represent lead use CE8X8NB produc- ~

tion fuel. The first poolside examination of these bundles was cocpleted in October 1988, after one cycle of opere-lon, and showed characteristics typical of normal operation with no evidence of Crud Induced Localized Corrosion (CILC). The next poolside examina--

tion of these bundles is scheduled in 1989 after the second cycle of operation.

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5. Claddinn Corrosion Perfornance LTAs Six LTAs were loaded into Hatch-2 in 1988 at the beginning of Cycle
8. Features tested include cladding material, heat treatment, and surface conditioning. The first poolside examination of these bundles is scheduled in 1989 after the first cycle of operation. i
6. 10CF lead Tert Assechlies Four LTAs were loaded into Cooper in 1988 at the begir.ning of Cycle
12. These LTAs represent lead use of GEBX8NB-1 production fuel bundle design features. The first poolside examination of these ,

bundles is scheduled in 1989 after the first cycle of operation.. '

IV. Generic Fuel Perferrance Mechanisms

  • Pellet-cladding interaction (PCI) and crud induced localized corrosion (CILC) are the only cladding perforation mechanisms that have affected fuel performance in recent periods. As described below, product improve- '

ments have been. developed that vill essentially eliminate these two fuel rod failure mechanisms.

, A, Pellet-Claddinr Interactioro i

[ Light Vater Reactor (LVR) nuclear fuel is susceptible to fuel rod cladding perforation, commonly called pellet-cladding interaction.

(pCI) f ailure. when subjected to fast power increases at moderate to high exposures. Operational procedures (PCIOMRs), which involve slow-approaches to power, have essentially, but not. completely, eliminated PCI failures in LVRs, but at the cost of reactor capacity factor losses. Zirconium barrier fuel was invented by General Electric-as a matetial solution to the PCI failure problem. Extensive test reactor and laboratory tests along with successful in-core power ramp

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demonstrations in the Quad Cities Unit 2 power reactor have shown that 'i Zr-barrier fuel is convincingly failure resistant. Barrier. fuel'was- 1 commercially introduced by General Electric in 1983. The Zr-barrier

-fuel commercial experience further confirms the effectiveness of this fuel design concept, with not a single PCI-induced Zr-barrier fuel rod failure in greater than 470,000 barrier fuel rods completing at least one reactor cycle of operation. PCI failures are expected to be '

eliminated within the next few years as the population of non-barrier fuel (45% of all GE fuel currently in operation is non-barrier) is discharged. ,

i B.. Crud-Induced Localized Corrosion In 1979, an unexpected low level failure mechanism of localized fuel-rod cladding corrosion was revealed.in some BWRs. Poolside examination of the failed fuel rods revealed plant corrosion product (crud) scale '

deposits with high copper concentrations. The nature of the failures ~  !

led to identification of special conditions of environment, opera-- l tional history, and material-susceptibility that must occur simul-taneously to cause failure. These crud-induced localized corrosion ,

(CILC) f ailures have been limited to plants with copper alloy conden-ser tubes and filter demineralizer condensate cleanup systems.

Fuel examinations , surveillance , and extensive research have led to a practical understanding of this mechanism. A reproducible out-of- i reactor test for measuring the susceptibility of Zircaloy to in-reactor nodular corrosion was developed by General Electric and corre- '

lated to in reactor performance (Reference 5). This test confirmed a previously undetected variability in the susceptibility of Zircaloy to  ;

in-reactor nodular corrosion. This test has been patented and made available to the industry on a non-profit basis through the ASTM.

Improved manufacturing processes have been developed that both improve the corrosion resistance of the~ incoming material ~ produced by the Zircaloy vendors and further. ensure that improved corrosion resistance t is maintained throughout the remaining fabrication processing to yield

  • final size fuel rod cladding that is more resistant to in reactor nodular corrosion. These processes have been implemented in the production of all General Electric fuel to provide a high degree of assurance that adequate corrosion resistant properties are achieved.

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V. Conclusions General Electric has developed a substantial fuel experience base that. ,

coupled with an aggressive fuel surveillance program, has provided sig-nificant feedback on statistically significant numbers of fuel rods with-regard to the perfcrmance effectiveness of design, . operational and manufacturing changes. It is concluded that the experience gained with General Electric production and developmental fuel continues-to demon- .

strate the high reliability of the General Electric designed BVR fuel.

VI. Feferences

1. J. S. Charnley (CE) to C. H. Berlinger (NRC), " Post Irradiation Fuel Surveillance Program", November 23, 1983.

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2. J. S. Charnley (GE) to L. S. Rubenstein (NRC), " Fuel Sruveillance i Program". February 29, 1985,
3. J. S. Charnley (GE) to L. S. Rubenstein (NRC), " Additional Details

' Regarding Fuel Surveillance Program", May 25, 1984. '

4 L. S. Rubenstein (NRC) to R. L. Gridley (CE), " Acceptance of GE Proposed Tuel Surveillance Program", June 27, 1984.  ;

5. B. Cheng, H. A. Levin, R. B. Adamson, M. O. Marlowe, V. L. Monroe, t

" Development of a Sensitive and Reproducible Steam Test for Zircaloy i Nodular Corrosion", ASTM 7th International Conference on Zirconium in  !

the Nuclear Industry, Strasbourg, France, June 24-27, 1985. '

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I Table 1 Summary of Ongoing Lead Test Assembly Surveillance Programs t i

Bundle.

. Average Number of- Exposure' Completed- At Last Number of Cycles of Outage }

Procram .;

Peactor Bundles Doeration- (Gk'd /MTU) - Obiectives' 4 i

Barrier LTA's Quad Cities-1 2 5 43 Barrier:

Cladding 'i 1981 LTA's Browns Ferry 3 8 1 12 Ieproved. '

i design i features' -

1963 LTA's Peach Bottom-3 4 2 24 Improved' -

design {

features '

1964 LTAs Duane Arnold 5 2 28 l Improved design-features  ;

1967 LTA's Hatch-1 4 1 12- Lead Use GESXSNB Corrosion Hatch-2 6 - --

Clad Mat'l  ;

Performance Process'  :

Variables ~' [ ,

1988 LTA's Cooper 4 - -~-

Lead Use CE8X853 1 Features  :

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