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An increase in the frequency of fuel degradation following a primary breach in boiling water reactor (BWR) rods was observed during the late-1980s and early 1990s; these rods were often found to contain axial splits. Several failed rods containing splits have been returned to the Vallecitos Nuclear Center (VNC) for post-irradiation examination (PIE). This paper describes in detail the characteristics of fracture in these rods and relates the observations to postulated mechanisms of split formation. Crack initiation invariably occurred at localized hydrides well away from the primary defect. Crack propagation was almost entirely brittle except for fracture of the zirconium liner, which was typically ductile. Fractography of the matrix exhibited nonsymmetrical chevron features with the crack front generally leading near the outside of the cladding. Detailed metallography demonstrated that cracks propagated through regions of both high and low (i.e., 150 ppm) hydride concentrations with the same brittle features. A modified Charpy test was developed to elucidate the effects of metallurgical and stress state variables on the crack phenomena and provide relevant fracture toughness measurements as a function of hydride level for thin-walled tube specimens. A parallel series of tests examined the role of the environment on cracking behavior. The sum of the information provides valuable insight into the mechanism of split formation in degrading fuel rods.

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Design and operation of fusion reactors will require a temperature-dependent effective toughness [Ke(T)] data base. Effective toughness is a function of intrinsic metallurgical/microstructural factors, degraded by irradiation, and extrinsic factors, such as size and geometry. Standard fracture mechanics is inadequate, since the presumption of geometrically independent crack tip stress/strain fields does not apply to either small specimens or in thin-walled structures with shallow cracks. More general approaches to measuring and applying Ke(T) data are described for cleavage initiation in steels and vanadium alloys. The critical stress-critical area (σ*/A*) mechanism of cleavage initiation is demonstrated using a confocal microscopy/fracture reconstruction method that can also directly measure Ke. The σ*/A* model is combined with finite element method (FEM) simulations of crack tip fields to: a) predict Ke(T) for F-82H as a function of size; and b) directly adjust Ke(T) data to a common test geometry. A simpler master curve-(temperature) shift method is also described. Changes in yield stress due to irradiation or strain rates can be related to the shifts. Indeed, tensile properties as a function of temperature, strain rate and alloy condition are required by all assessment methods. Physically-based small specimen methods will reduce enormously what would otherwise be a prohibitive amount of testing.

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