Modeling of Cr2O3-doped UO2 as a near-term accident tolerant fuel for LWRs using the BISON code

The near-term Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) concepts consist of minor modifications of the standard UO2-Zr fuel rod materials to provide enhanced accident tolerance. Uranium dioxide fuel with chromia dopant, developed by AREVA, is of interest in view of its enhanced fission gas retention. The predictive capability of the BISON fuel performance code for chromia-doped UO2 fuel is assessed through simulation of the Halden IFA-677.1 fuel rod experiment. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to interpret the deviation of code’s predictions from the experimental data. A power ramp test is also modeled with BISON and calculations are compared to the experimental database. Finally, a large-break LOCA (LBLOCA) case is simulated with BISON, leading to an initial assessment of the enhanced safety associated with chromia-doped fuel compared to the standard UO2 fuel in LWRs.