Abstract
A new accident tolerant Fe-12Cr-6Al-2Mo-0.2Si-0.03Y (C26M) fuel cladding was developed in response to the nuclear accident in Japan. Now that large quantities of commercial tubing are being fabricated, integral testing has expanded to include isothermal and non-isothermal steam oxidation testing, loss of coolant accident (LOCA) burst testing and critical heat flux (CHF) behavior. The oxidation behavior is being compared to other FeCrAl compositions and includes protective alumina scale formation during ramp testing at up to 11°C/min to 1475°C. Using standard LOCA conditions of 5°C/s heating in steam, burst testing was conducted with hoop stresses of 20-110 MPa and indicated higher burst temperatures for C26M compared to first generation FeCrAlY compositions without Mo and Si. Using the same LOCA equipment, a new experiment is being developed to simulate CHF conditions and the deformation behavior of C26M was compared to Zircaloy-4.
