HT9 STRAIN MODELING FOR FUEL PIN DEFORMATION

The Terra Power Traveling Wave Reactor (TWR) is a sodium-cooled fast reactor design that utilizes a high-burnup metallic uranium fuel cycle. The fuel system depends on a cladding material with demonstrated swelling resistance to high doses as well as adequate thermal creep strength. HT9 steel is a leading cladding candidate for the first TWR, having demonstrated excellent swelling and strain performance to doses > 200 dpa. A strain model was developed as a design tool to predict fuel pin deformation as a function of irradiation dose, stress, and temperature. The sources of strain deformation will be described along with the uncertainties in utilizing existing data to build a mechanistic model. The strain model is then incorporated into a fuel performance code to provide new insight in deformation behavior of HT9 fuel pins.