nuclear fuel performance code

Fuel Performance

BISON

BISON – BISON is a finite element-based nuclear fuel performance code applicable to a variety of fuel forms including light water reactor fuel rods, TRISO particle fuel, and metallic rod and plate fuel. It solves the fully-coupled equations of thermomechanics and species diffusion, for 1D spherical, 1D layered, 2D axisymmetric, 2D plane strain, or 3D geometries. Fuel models are included to describe temperature and burnup dependent thermal properties, fission product swelling, densification, thermal and irradiation creep, fracture, and fission gas production and release. Plasticity, irradiation growth, and thermal and irradiation creep models are implemented for clad materials. Models are also available to simulate gap heat transfer, mechanical contact, and the evolution of the gap/plenum pressure with plenum volume, gas temperature, and fission gas addition. BISON simulates the thermo-mechanical response of light water reactor fuel rods in 1 , 2 , or 3 dimensions.  BISON includes models for UO2 fuel behavior (e.g., thermal conductivity degradation), Zircaloy cladding behavior (e.g., cladding creep), and gap behavior (e.g., reduced conductance due to fission gas release).