Pressurized heavy water reactor fuel behaviour in power ramp conditions

In order to check and improve the quality of the Romanian CANDU fuel, an assembly of six CANDU fuel rods has been subjected to a power ramping test in the 14 MW TRIGA reactor at INR. After testing, the fuel rods have been examined in the hot cells using post-irradiation examination (PIE) techniques such as: visual inspection and photography, eddy current testing, profilometry, gamma scanning, fission gas release and analysis, metallography, ceramography, burn-up determination by mass spectrometry, mechanical testing. This paper describes the PIE results from one out of the six fuel rods. The PIE results concerning the integrity, dimensional changes, oxidation, hydriding and mechanical properties of the sheath, the fission-products activity distribution in the fuel column, the pressure, volume and composition of the fission gas, the burn-up, the isotopic composition and structural changes of the fuel enabled the characterization of the behaviour of the Romanian CANDU fuel in power ramping conditions performed in the TRIGA materials testing reactor.