Feasibility study of fuel cladding performance for application in ultra-long cycle fast reactor

Abstract As a part of the research and development activities for long-life core sodium-cooled fast reactors, the cladding performance of the ultra-long cycle fast reactor (UCFR) is evaluated with two design power levels (1000 MWe and 100 MWe) and cladding peak temperatures (873 K and 923 K). The key design concept of the UCFR is that it is non-refueling during its 30–60 years of operation. This concept may require a maximum peak cladding temperature of 923 K and a cladding radiation damage of over 200 dpa (displacements per atom). Therefore, for the design of the UCFR, deformation due to thermal creep, irradiation creep, and swelling must be taken into consideration through quantitative evaluations. As candidate cladding materials for use in UCFRs, ferritic–martensitic (FM) steels, oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels, and SiC-based composite materials are studied using deformation behavior modeling for a feasibility evaluation. The results of this study indicate that SiC is a potential UCFR cladding material, with the exception of irradiation creep due to high neutron fluence stemming from its long operating time of about 30–60 years.