Zinc water chemistry reduces dissolution of FeCrAl for nuclear fuel cladding

The use of accident tolerant fuels (ATF) will facilitate the continuing operation of light water reactors (LWR) by making them safer and more economical to operate. One of the ATF concepts is to use iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys for the cladding of the fuel. These ferritic alloys were never used in power reactors before therefore their behavior needs to be characterized. Current results show a positive effect of zinc chemistry on the environmental degradation of ferritic FeCrAl. Autoclave tests at 288 °C show > 60% decrease in the dissolution rate of FeCrAl and 3–4 time decrease in the surface oxide film thickness.