Home / Publications / Journals / Nuclear Technology / Volume 46 / Number 2
Parameter Study on the Influence of Prepressurization on PWR Fuel Rod Behavior During Normal Operation and Hypothetical LOCAs
Nuclear Technology / Volume 46 / Number 2 / December 1979 / Pages 205-212
Technical Paper / Nuclear Power Reactor Safety (Presented at the ENS/ANS International Meeting, Brussels, Belgium, October 16–19, 1978) / Reactor / dx.doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32318
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To analyze the influence of prepressurization on fuel rod behavior, a parametric study has been performed that considers the effects of as-fabricated fuel rod internal prepressure on the normal operation and postulated loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) rod behavior of a 1300-MW(electric) Kraftwerk Union (KWU) standard pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant. A variation of the prepressure in the range from 15 to 35 bars has only a slight influence on normal operation behavior. Considering the LOCA behavior, only a small temperature increase results from prepressure reduction, while the core-wide straining behavior is improved significantly. The KWU prepressurization takes both conditions into account.
