Fuel Failure in Water Reactors : Causes and Mitigation (IAEA Tecdoc Series)

The report presents the proceedings of a Technical Meeting on Fuel Failure in Water Reactors: Causes and Mitigation held in Bratislava, Slovakia in June 2002. Utility and fuel vendor experience in identification of fuel failure causes and on remedies implemented to reduce the number of fuel failures and/or to mitigate fuel failure impact on nuclear power plant operation is analysed and discussed in the report. Emphasis is given to the fuel failure events most frequently observed during the last decade, including grid-to-rod fretting and axial offset anomaly failures in PWRs and severe secondary failures in BWRs. The report also includes information on fuel failure mechanisms and recommendations for fuel failure rate decrease in the near future.