Development of a method for analysis of thermal performance of VVER fuel

Safe operation and maximum burning of fuel material are two issues that are recently taken into consideration in nuclear fuel rod fabrication industry. Any failure in nuclear fuel and cladding, such as local melting or cracking, may cause release of radioactive fission fragments to the reactor coolant, which is an undesirable issue from the reactor safety point of view. Hence, one of the most important issues in nuclear industry is the preservation of fuel rod integrity during its lifetime. The performance of the irradiated fuel inside the reactor core is affected by various complex phenomena. The main objective of the present paper is to develop valid physical models and an accurate numerical method to study of Water-Water Energetic Reactor (VVER) fuel rod performance. The obtained model can be applied to simulate fuel performance during its lifetime. The correlations used in physical models are chosen in such a way that main parameters, such as gap pressure and fuel centre temperature, can be estimated accurately. The obtained results are in acceptable agreement with available data.