State-of-the-Art Report on Nuclear Fuel Behaviour in Loss-of-Coolant Accident (LOCA) Conditions

This report established by the NEA Working Group on Fuel Safety (WGFS) of the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) compiles the state-of-the-art knowledge on fuel behaviour in loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) as of 2018 and constitutes a reference for nuclear fuel safety specialists by providing the technical basis for safety analysis related to LOCA.

The report includes the following aspects: description of different LOCA scenarios for major reactor designs: BWRs, PWRs, VVERs and also CANDUs and RBMKs; world-wide LOCA safety criteria; description of LOCA phenomena: ballooning, burst, oxidation, fuel relocation and possible fracture at quench; details of high-temperature oxidation behaviour of various cladding materials; metallurgical phase change, effect of hydrogen and oxygen on residual cladding ductility; methods for LOCA testing; summary results of LOCA-related experiments including separate-effect and integral tests; and predictive computer codes.