Stainless-Steel-Clad Fuel Rod Failures

Irradiation Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking

“…As with other forms of SCC, early observations suggested that a growing incidence with time and neutron fluence should be expected. IASCC was first reported in the early 1960s 7,8,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] and involved intergranular cracking of stainless steel fuel cladding, with the initiation of multiple cracks occurring from the water side. By contrast, mostly ductile, transgranular cracking was observed in postirradiation mechanical tests performed in inert environments at various strain rates and temperatures.…”

Irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking

“…Subsequent observation made this clearer e.g., by showing a similar effect of the water purity (as measured solution conductivity) on unirradiated and irradiated stainless steel (Figure 4 ). The initial reports of IASCC occurred in the early 1960s (Andresen & Ford, 1995;Andresen, Ford, Murphy, & Perks, 1990a;Armijo, Low, & Wolff, 1965;Brown, Storhok, & Gates, 1967;Bruemmer et al, 1999;Cheng, 1964Cheng, , 1970Cheng, , 1975Cowan & Gordon, 1977;Duncan et al, 1965;Hanninen & Aho-Mantila, 1988;Jacobs & Wozadlo, 1985;Multer, 1975;Pashos et al, 1964;Pasupathi & Klingensmith, 1981;Schaffer, 1962;Scott, 1994;Storrer & Locke, 1970;Was & Andresen, 1992a;2007) and involved intergranular cracking of stainless steel fuel cladding initiating from the water side. Post-irradiation mechanical tests, by comparison, were performed in inert environments at various strain rates and temperatures and exhibited mostly ductile, transgranular cracking.…”

Intergranular stress-assisted corrosion cracking of austenitic alloys in water-cooled nuclear reactors

“…However, this approach was unsuccessful, primarily because of intergranular cracking (table 6) [33]. Fuel-element cladding of Types 30U, 3OUL, and 3 1 *?…”