HTGR Knowledge Base

Topical Article 2: Fuel Performance and Fission Product Behaviour

The ability of coated particle HTGR fuel to reliably retain fission products over a wide range of conditions is of fundamental importance to modular HTGR designs. Fuel performance and fission product behaviour was the subject of an IAEA Co-ordinated Research Project begun in 1992 and lasting four years, with participating countries including China, Germany, Japan, Poland, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The results of this effort are reported in IAEA TECDOC 978 addressing the following topical areas:

• Fuel design and fabrication [PDF; 2.5MB; 42 pages]
• Fuel performance under irradiation (normal operation) [PDF; 4.3MB; 79 pages]
• Fuel performance under accident conditions (non-oxidising [PDF; 5.2MB; 92 pages] and oxidising conditions [PDF; 2.6MB; 41 pages])
• Fission product transport [PDF; 7.4MB; 134 pages]

In addition to the CRP discussed above, a Technical Committee Meeting was held on the response of fuel, fuel elements and gas cooled reactor cores under accidental air or water ingress conditions, with the proceedings documented in TECDOC 784.