Analysis of Options and Experimental Examination of Fuels for Water Cooled Reactors with Increased Accident Tolerance (ACTOF)

Among the new technologies under development is accident tolerant fuel, which has the potential to enhance safety at nuclear power plants by offering better performance in normal operation, transient conditions and accident scenarios. These new fuels and cladding need to be licensed before being deployed industrially; therefore, research is being undertaken to assess their behaviour in normal operation and accident conditions.
The development and verification of computer codes to model nuclear fuel behaviour in different conditions requires extensive and reliable experimental data collected through durable and expensive studies. This is why international cooperation in this area is highly desirable. The IAEA traditionally supports interested Member States in their efforts to enhance the capacities of their computer codes used for prediction of fuel behaviour. The coordinated research project (CRP) entitled Analysis of Options and Experimental Examination of Fuels for Water Cooled Reactors with Increased Accident Tolerance (ACTOF) complemented these efforts by considering the modelling and development of advanced fuel concepts, supporting the collection of the experimental data that will be needed to allow implementation of such fuels in commercial reactors.