Research and development for improvement of fuel cladding tube materials and fuel assembly component materials
In the fuel assemblies used in nuclear reactors, zirconium alloy is used for fuel cladding tubes, control rod guide tubes, and spacer grids, stainless steel is used for top and bottom nozzles, and nickel-based alloy is used for some spacer grids, and these are used in high temperature, high pressure, and high radiation environments. Since fuel cladding tubes also play a role as a protective barrier to contain radioactivity, various special test devices are used in research and development to obtain characteristic data specific to the fuel assembly component materials, which are used for design, approval and licensing, etc.
Fuel cladding tube material related test devices
