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Grant support

This work has been partially supported by the ENEN2plus project (HORIZON-EURATOM-2021-NRT-01-13 101061677) founded by the European Union and the Spanish Nuclear Safety Council (grant for R&D project) . It has also received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2021-2027 through the OperaHPC project under grant agreement n degrees 101061453, as well as from the APIS project (https://apis-project.eu/) under grant agreement n degrees 101114673.

Analysis of institutional authors

Aragon, PauCorresponding Author

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October 29, 2024
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Fuel performance modelling of Cr-coated Zircaloy cladding under DBA/ LOCA conditions

Publicated to:Annals Of Nuclear Energy. 211 110950- - 2025-02-01 211(), DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110950

Authors: Aragón, P; Feria, F; Herranz, LE; Schubert, A; Van Uffelen, P

Affiliations

CIEMAT, Unit Nucl Safety Res, Ave Complutense 40, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
European Commiss, Joint Res Ctr JRC, Karlsruhe, Germany - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid UPM, Energy Engn Dept, Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, Madrid 28006, Spain - Author

Abstract

Chromium coatings are being developed for advanced technology fuel (ATF) claddings, offering negligible corrosion during normal operation, improved resistance to high-temperature steam oxidation, and superior hightemperature strength, the latter two being of utmost relevance during design basis accidents (DBAs). Demonstrating the improved response of Cr-coated Zircaloy requires the development or extension of fuel performance codes to coating simulations. In this work, material models and correlations for Cr-coated Zircaloy cladding have been derived or obtained from the literature and implemented into TRANSURANUS and the FRAPTRAN-TUmech suite. These extended tools have been used to simulate two complementary LOCA tests: QUENCH-L1 rod 4 (out-of-pile bundle test on fresh Zircaloy cladding) and IFA-650.10 (in-pile single rod test on high-burnup Zircaloy-UO2 fuel), enabling a gradual cross-verification of results between codes and a comparative performance analysis between coated and uncoated cladding. The results indicate negligible impact of coating properties other than creep on the burst time. While the superior high-temperature creep resistance of coated cladding slightly delays the burst time, additional burst data would be necessary to draw sound conclusions on the balloon size. Regarding the modelling approach, treating the coated cladding as a composite material through the definition of effective properties might result in worse performance relative to uncoated cladding, contradicting experimental observations. Therefore, the separate modelling of the coating and the cladding is recommended.

Keywords

AtfCoatinCoatingFraptranFuel performance modellingFuel safetyLocaPure chromiuTransuranusZirconium alloy

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Annals Of Nuclear Energy due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 9/41, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Nuclear Science & Technology.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2025-07-26:

  • WoS: 2
  • Scopus: 2

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-26:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 12 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Germany.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (ARAGON GRABIEL, PAU) .

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been ARAGON GRABIEL, PAU.