New determination of the UO2/Zircaloy reaction kinetics and calculation of the oxygen diffusion coefficients

Abstract

SummaryThe results of the isothermal U02/Zircaloy interaction experiments were corrected with respect to the actual annealing temperature and the reaction time. This was done by comparison of the Zr02 and Q-Zr(O) reaction layer thicknesses of the U02/Zircaloy fuel rod segments, which reacted under oxidizing conditions, with that of Zircaloy cladding oxidation experiments performed in a tube furnace under weil controlled temperature conditions. The reactions which took place during the heatup and cooldown period were taken into consideration by the determination of a so-called equivalent isothermal annealing time which was added to the actual isothermal annealing time.