ML20059L179

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Forwards Copy of GE Rept Providing Update Re GE Experience W/Bwr Fuel Through Dec 1987
ML20059L179
Person / Time
Site: 05000605
Issue date: 11/16/1988
From: Charnley J
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO.
To: Hodges M
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
Shared Package
ML20058L685 List:
References
JSC-88-117, MFN-80-88, NUDOCS 9402030257
Download: ML20059L179 (10)
v • d • e


Text

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GE Nuclear Energy u

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November 16, 1988 HFN #80-88 JSC-88-ll7 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Mail Station Pl-137 Washington, D.C. 20555 Attention: M.W. Hodges, Chief Reactor Systems Branch Gentlemen:

SUBJECT:

Experience With BWR Fuel Through December 1987 Attached is a copy of the GE report providing an update of GE's experience with BWR fuel through December 1997 It is being sent to you at your request for use in the preparat3 n of your annual fuel performance report.

Please contac .e if you have any questions.

J.S / Charnley fu 1 Licensing Manager Attachment cc: L.S. Gifford S. Wu (NRC) 9402030257 DR 911025 ADOCK 05000605 PDR

l ctwenu. Etteruc caem racrurim wrommon l RECEIVED ,

NUCLEAR FUEL 6 ENGINEERING SERVICES DEPARTMENT San Jose, California QCJ}Qjggg J. S. CHARNLEY, i

September 26, 1987$

cc: JA Baumgartner A Potts To: J. S. Charnley /

M/C 687

Subject:

EXPERIEtiCE L'ITH Bk'R FUEL THROUGH DECEMBER 1987 Attached is the annual update of the subject report for transmittal to the NRC. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the undersigned.

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k ', L. P. Harding fuel Rod Thermal &

Mechanical Analysis M/C 155, Ext. 5-6580 ,

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Approve R. A. Proebstle, Manager Fuel Engineering Attachment I

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'I EXPERIENCE WITH B'n'R FUEL  ;

THROUGH DECEMBER 1987 1

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1- thru 1987~

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l currw. Ettenic comm noFRIr2W INToRSTICJ l I. Introduction This information report provides an updated review of General Electric experience with production and developmental BWR Zircaloy-clad UOp fuel rods through December 1987. This experience includes successful commer-cial reactor operation of fuel bundles to greater than 45,000 MVd/MTU bundle average exposure (approximately 60,000 mwd /MTU peak pellet ,

exposure).

The performance of General Electric 8X8 fuel types continues to be highly successful as demonstrated by a 1987 fuel rod reliability rate of greater than 99.99%.

II. General Electric BUR Fuel Exnerience Base As of December 31, 1987, over 3.3 million General Electric 8X8 fuel type production Zircaloy-clad UO2 fuel rods were in, or had completed, opera- '

tion in commercial BWRs. Figure 1 shows cumulative 8X8 fuel rods loaded as a function of calendar year. As of December 31, 1987, over 1.5 million General Electric fuel rods were in operatior,. Figure 2 illustrates General Electric's core loadings by fuel type as a function of calendar year. As of December 31, 1987, General Electric had loaded approximately 700,000 pellet-cladding interaction (PCI) resistant barrier fuel rods in commercial BWR's. The General Electric fuel manufacturing facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, is producing 100% of its 1988 load as barrier fuel, demonstrating the overall customer acceptance of this fuel design, III. Generic Concerns Early General Electric fuel operating experience identified fuel perfor-(- mance problems that have been subsequently corrected through evolutionary design, manufacturing, and operating improvements. These earlier proble=s are not affecting fuel performance at this time. Pellet-cladding interac-tion (PCI) and crud-induced localized corrosion (CILC) are the only cladding perforation mechanisms which have affected fuel performance in recent periods. As described below, product improvements have been developed that will. essentially eliminate these two fuel rod failure mechanisms.

A. Pellet-Claddine Interaction Light Water Reactor (LWR) nuclear fuel is susceptible to fuel rod cladding perforation, commonly called pellet-cladding interaction (PCI) failure, when subjected to fast power increases at moderate to high exposures. Operational procedures (PCIOMRs), which involve slow _3 approaches to power, have essentially eliminated PCI failures in LVRs, but at the cost of reactor capacity factor losses. Zirconium barrier fuel was invented by General Electric as a material solution to the J PCI failure problem. Extensive test reactor and laboratory tests along with successful in-core power ramp demonstrations in the Quad Cities Unit 2 power reactor have shown that Zr-barrier fuel is convincingly failure resistant. Barrier fuel was 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 300,000 l barrier fuel rods completing at least one reactor cycle of operation.

CE Experience thru 1987 ,

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l crNERAt ELECTMc COMPANY FROPMr7ARY SNr0RSTICQ l B. Crud-Induced Loen11 red 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-tional history, and material-susceptibility that must occur simul-taneously to cause failure. These crud-induced localized corrosion (CILC) failures 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, and solution to, this mechanism. A reproducible out-of-reactor test for measuring the susceptibility of Zircaloy to in-reactor nodular corrosion was developed by General Electric and correlated to in-reactor performance (Reference 1). This test confirmed a previously undetected variability in the suscep-tibility 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.

A new manufacturing process was developed that improves the corrosion resistance of the incoming material produced by the Zircaloy vendors to yield material which is more resistant to in-reactor nodular corro-sion. This process has been implemented in the production of all .

General Electric fuel to provide a high degree of assurance that adequate corrosion resistant properties are achieved.

IV. In-Reactor Surveillance Programs and Summary of Surveillance Results one of the most important 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 key design features are used to demonstrate the satisfactory performance of these features and to provide lead experience for future production fuel.

The fuel surveillance program adopted by General Elcetric and accepted by the NRC is described in References 2 through 5.

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

A. Barrier Fuel Procram The goal of this program was the demonstration of a 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 lead test assemblies, loaded into Quad Cities-1 in 1979 at the beginning of cycle 5, and a demonstration reload of 144 bundles with Zr-lined cladding placed into the core at Quad Cities-2 at the beginning of cycle 6.

The barrier LTA's at Quad Cities-1 have undergone four poolside ex-aminations to date, consisting of visual inspections and non-destructive testing of selected fuel rods. These examinations, have-revealed that the bundles and individual fuel rods exhibited charac-l CE Experience thru 1987 )

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t-l otwouc. tt.tcruc caem rnerutTARY MTmm7!oN l teristics typical of normal' operation. Two LTA's completed a fifth cycle of operation in September 1987.

The Quad Cities-2 barrier fuel program was designed to subject the barrier cladding fuel to significant power increases in order te demonstrate the PCI resistance of barrier fuel. Two power increase demonstrations have been performed; the first in 1983 at the end of cycle 6 and the second in 1985 at the end of Cycle 7. 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.

B. Irproved Desien 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- i irradiation characterization, with plans for interim poolside examina.

tions. These Improved Design Feature LTAs include:

1.1981 Lead Test Assemblies Eight LTAs were loaded into Browns Ferry-3 in 1982 at the beginning of Cycle 5. A poolside examination, after the first cycle of opera-tion in 1984, showed that the LTAs exhibited characteristics typi-

, cal of normal operation.

2. 1983 Lead Test Assemblies Four LTAs were loaded into Peach Bottom-3 in 1983 at the beginning of Cycle 6. 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 LTAs completed their second cycle of operation in 1987 and were again visually '

examined in November 1987 and showed characteristics typical of two cycles of normal operation. -

3. 1984 Lead Test Assemblies Five LTAs were loaded into Duane Arnold in 1985 at the.beginning of Cycle 8. The first poolside examination of these bundles was com- '

pleted in April 1987, after one cycle of operation, and showed characteristics typical of normal operation. The next poolside >

examination is scheduled in 1988 after the second cycle of opera-tion.

4. 1987 lead Test Assemblies Four LTAs_were loaded into Hatch-1 in 1987 at the beginning of Cycle 11. The first poolside examination of these bundles is scheduled in 1988 after the first cycle of operation.

GE Experience thru.1987 i

l stytna:. nzerR2e cWANY PROPRItTARY INFoRMT!c3 l .

. 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 performance effectiveness of design, operational and manufacturing changes. It is concluded that the experience gained with General Electric production and developmental fuel continues to demonstrate the high reliability of the General Electric designed BWR fuel.

VI. References

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

" Development of a Sensitive and Reproducible Steam Test for Zircaloy-Nodular Corrosion", ASTM 7th International Conference on Zirconium in the Nuclear Industry, Strasbourg, France, June 24-27, 1985.

2. J. S. Charnley (GE) to C. H. Berlinger (NRC), " Post Irradiation Fuel Surveillance Program", November 23, 1983.
3. J . S. Charnley (GE) to L. S. Rubenstein (NRC), " Fuel Sruveillance Program", February 29, 1985.
4. J. S. Charnley (GE) to L. S. Rubenstein (NRC), " Additional Details- ,

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

5. L. S. Rubenstein (NRC) to R. L. Gridley (GE), " Acceptance of GE Proposed Fuel Surveillance Program", June 27, 1984

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D GE Experience thru 1987

,, l GENDA1, EtECMC CmFW PROFRIETARY ETOPMTION l Table 1 Summary of Ongoing Lead Test Assembly Surveillance Programs Bundle Average -

Number of Exposure Completed At 1.ast Number of Cycles of Outage Pronram Reactor Bundles Operation (GWd /MTU) Obieetives Barrier LTA's Quad Cities-1 2 5 43 Barrier Cladding i 1981 LTA's Browns Ferry-3 8 1 12 Improved design i features 1983 LTA's Peach Bottom-3 4 2 24 Improved design I Efeatureg i 1984 LTA's Duane Arnold 5 1 15 Improved design features 1987 LTA's Hatch-1 4 - --

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