FRAPCON-3.4: A Computer Code for the Calculation of Steady-State, Thermal-Mechanical Behavior of Oxide Fuel Rods for High Burnup (NUREG/CR-7022, Volume 1, PNNL-19418, Volume 1)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: August 2010
Date Published: March 2011

Prepared by:
K.J. Geelhood, W.G. Luscher, C.E. Beyer

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
P.O. Box 999
Richland, WA 99352

M.E. Flanagan, NRC Project Manager

NRC Job Code N6609

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

FRAPCON-3 is a Fortran 90 computer code that calculates the steady-state response of light-water reactor fuel rods during long-term burnup. The code calculates the temperature, pressure, and deformation of a fuel rod as functions of time-dependent fuel rod power and coolant boundary conditions. The phenomena modeled by the code include 1) heat conduction through the fuel and cladding to the coolant; 2) cladding elastic and plastic deformation; 3) fuel-cladding mechanical interaction; 4) fission gas release from the fuel and rod internal pressure; and 5) cladding oxidation. The code contains necessary material properties, water properties, and heat-transfer correlations. FRAPCON-3 is programmed for use on Windows-based computers, but the source code may be compiled on any computer with a Fortran 90 compiler.

The FRAPCON-3 code is designed to generate initial conditions for transient fuel rod analysis by the FRAPTRAN computer code.

This document describes FRAPCON-3.4a, which is the latest version of FRAPCON-3, released April 13, 2010.

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