State-of-the-art review of data on fuel cladding interaction in advanced fuels for Gen IV reactors

The objective of the Task 5.31 is to investigate ceramic fuel-cladding interactions for fuel pin of advanced nuclear systems by combining the experience from the fuel and structural materials community. The document presents the start-of-the art on the investigations of fuel-cladding interaction in various GEN IV environments. We give here a review of the state-of-the-art methodologies and test methods as well as a compilation of in-house data and experience. Special emphasis is given to chemical interaction but mechanical interaction is also treated. The review deals with the specific items: - in-pile data available on fuel (mainly UO2 and MOX) including assessment of experimental techniques, reliability of the data, - fuel-cladding chemical interaction (FCCI) for MOX fuels in SFR environment, - fuel-cladding chemical interaction for nitride fuel in LFR environment, - fuel-cladding mechanical interaction (FCMI) for MOX pellet, mechanical tests performed on cladding materials as a basis for FCMI modelling, relevant data on advanced cladding materials and application of available constitutive models. As a conclusion, some outlines are proposed for improving the modelling of this phenomenon.