FUEL+ simulation of the HALDEN LOCA test IFA-650.10

• Proposition of a methodology to simulate a Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LOCA). • Use of a coupling between codes of the FUEL+ platform to simulate the LOCA transient. • Use of a chaining with an irradiation code to initialize fuel data at the start of the LOCA scenario. • Validation of the methodology and the codes on the HALDEN IFA 650.10 LOCA test. FUEL+ is a software platform developed by the French Nuclear Safety and Radioprotection Authority (ASNR) with the objective of modelling the behaviour of nuclear fuel in normal, incidental, and accidental operational conditions, as well as during its storage in deactivation pools and its transportation for reprocessing. To achieve this, the platform brings together several simulation codes and notably eases their coupling. It models the main thermomechanical, thermochemical, and thermohydraulic phenomena occurring within and around nuclear fuel and its cladding at the scale of the fuel rod, assembly, or reactor core. This paper presents the simulation with the FUEL+ platform of the HALDEN LOCA test IFA-650.10, including: − A base irradiation calculation of the father rod used to reprocess the rod sample used in the test IFA-650.10 with the FUEL+/FIRST code. − An irradiation calculation of the rod sample in the HALDEN reactor before the LOCA test with the FUEL+/FIRST code. − The LOCA transient calculation itself using the FUEL+/DRACCAR code. − The cladding hydriding evaluation using the FUEL+/SHOWBIZ code coupled to the FUEL+/DRACCAR code. The calculation results are in good agreement with the experimental one, the cladding temperature evolution, burst time and maximal strain being well predicted by the FUEL+/DRACCAR code.