Channel Bow in Boiling Water Reactors - Hot Cell Examination Results and Correlation to Measured Bow

Abstract

An increase in frequency of fuel channel-control blade interference has been observed in Boiling Water Reactors (BWR) in recent years. Many of the channels leading to interference were found to bow towards the control blade in a manner that was inconsistent with the expected bow due to other effects. The pattern of bow appeared to indicate a new channel bow mechanism that differed from the predominant bow mechanism caused by differential growth due to fast-fluence gradients. In order to investigate this new type of channel bow, coupons from several channels with varying degrees of bow were returned to the GE Vallecitos Nuclear Center (VNC) for Post-Irradiation Examination (PIE). This paper describes the characteristics of channel corrosion and hydrogen pickup observed, and relates the observations to the channel exposure level, control history, and measured channel bow. The channels selected for PIE had exposures in the range of 36-48 GWd/MTU and covered a wide range of measured bow. The coupons were obtained at 4 elevations from opposing channel sides adjacent and away from the control blade. The PIE performed on these coupons included visual examination, metallography, and hydrogen concentration measurements. A new mechanism of control-blade shadow corrosion-induced channel bow was found tomore » correlate with differences in the extent of corrosion and corresponding differences in the hydrogen concentration between opposite sides of the channels. The increased corrosion on the control blade sides was found to be dependent on the level of control early in the life of the channel. The contributions of other potential factors leading to increased channel bow and channel-control blade interference are also discussed in this paper. (authors)« less