SiC cladding thermal conductivity requirements for normal operation and LOCA conditions

Silicon carbide (SiC) composite is a candidate cladding material for advanced technology fuels concepts in light water reactors. The thermal conductivity is a key parameter to the performance of the cladding and literature reports a wide range of values depending on the manufacturing concept, measurement technique and irradiation damage; therefore the simulation of the fuel/cladding behavior with selected thermal conductivities for SiC material is used to address the performance of SiC compared to Zr4. In this work, the minimal thermal conductivity requirements for a SiC composite have been defined by simulating a base irradiation and loss of coolant accident in a PWR with a fuel performance code loosely coupled to a plant analysis code.