Cooldown-induced hydride reorientation of hydrogen-charged zirconium alloy cladding tubes

Abstract

Radial hydride precipitation behaviors of Zr-Nb alloy cladding tubes were investigated using 250 and 500 ppm hydrogen-charged Zr-Nb alloy cladding tubes, cooldown processes from 400 to 300, 200°C and room temperature with five kinds of cooling rates of 0.3, 2.0, 4.0, 7.0 15.0 °C/min under a tensile hoop stress of 150 MPa, which can simulate various cooldown processes during an interim dry storage of PWR nuclear fuel. The slower cooling rate and the lower terminal cooldown temperature generated the more hydrides precipitated during the cooldown as well as the larger fraction and the longer length of radial hydrides. These phenomena can be explained by the difference in the terminal solid solubility of hydrogen for dissolution and precipitation occurring during the heatup and cooldown processes and the cooling rate-dependent hydride nucleation and growth rates. In addition, a drastic decrease in ultimate tensile strength and plastic strain of the tensile tested specimens experiencing the cool-down processes appear to be correlated with the amount of the radial hydrides precipitated during the cooldown.