Areva Np Gmbh

Compagnie Europeenne Du Zirconium Cezus

Compagnie Europeene Du Zirconium Cezus

Cezus-compagnie Europeenne Du Zirconium

Framatome Gmbh

Pierre Barberis

Gerard Bunel

Véronique Rebeyrolle

Jean-Jérôme Vermoyal

Claude Simonot

Gerard Dumas

Daniel Charquet

Jean-Paul Mardon

Pascal Guerin

Pascaline Fremiot

Petra-Britt Hoffmann

Noël Rizzi

Xavier Robbe

Jean-Luc Aubin

Philippe Legrand

A treatment process for a zirconium alloy is provided. The process includes the following steps:

Treatment process for a zirconium alloy, zirconium alloy resulting from this process and parts of nuclear reactors made of this alloy

A zirconium alloy that is resistant to shadow corrosion for a boiling water nuclear reactor fuel assembly component, the alloy being characterized in that: A fuel assembly component made of the alloy, a fuel assembly including the component, and the use thereof.

Zirconium alloy resistant to corrosion in drop shadows for a fuel assembly component for a boiling water reactor, component produced using said alloy, fuel assembly, and use of same

A method for design of a fuel assembly for nuclear reactors, including structural components made from zirconium alloy: the mean uniaxial tensile or compressive stress to which the components are subjected during the assembly life is calculated, the zirconium alloy of which the components are made is selected according to the following criteria: those components subjected to an axial or transverse compressive stress of between &#x2212;10 et &#x2212;20 MPa are made from an alloy with a content of Sn between Sn=(=0.025&#x3c3;&#x2212;0.25)% and Sn=&#x2212;0.05&#x3c3;%: those components subjected to such a stress of between 0 et &#x2212;10 MPa are made from an alloy the Sn content of which is between Sn=traces and Sn=(0.05&#x3c3;+1)%: those components subjected to such a stress of between 0 and +10 MPa are made from an alloy the Sn content of which is between Sn=0.05% and Sn=(0.07&#x3c3;+1)%: and those components subjected to such a stress of between +10 and +20 MPa are made from an alloy the content of SN of which is between 0.05% and 1.70%. A fuel assembly made according to the method.

Method for designing a fuel assembly optimized as a function of the stresses in use in light-water nuclear reactors, and resulting fuel assembly

The invention relates to a method of producing a flat zirconium alloy product with a Kearns factor (cross direction) of between 0.3 and 0.7. The inventive method consists in: producing an ingot containing Nb=0.5 to 3.5%, Sn=0 to 1.5%, Fe=0 to 0.5%, Cr+V=0 to 0.3%, S=0 to 100 ppm, O=0 to 2000 ppm, Si=0 to 150 ppm, the remainder being zirconium and impurities; shaping the aforementioned ingot; performing one or more hot rolling operations in order to obtain a flat product, whereby the last operation is performed at between(810&#x2212;20&#xd7;Nb %)&#xb0; C. and 1100&#xb0; C. and is not followed by any quenching from phase &#x3b1;+&#x3b2; or &#x3b2;; optionally performing an annealing operation at a maximum of 800&#xb0; C.; and performing one or more cold rolling and annealing operations, said annealing operations being performed at a maximum of 800&#xb0; C. The invention also relates to the flat zirconium alloy product thus obtained. The invention further relates to a support grid for fuel rods in a nuclear plant reactor, which is obtained by shaping the flat product.

Method of producing a flat zirconium alloy product, flat product thus obtained and a nuclear plant reactor grid which is made from said flat product

A large ingot is produced by casting the zirconium alloy, then the ingot is forged in two stages to obtain the semi-finished product wherein the first stage of forging the ingot is performed at a temperature at which the zirconium alloy is in a state comprising crystalline &#x3b1; and &#x3b2; phases.

Method of producing a zirconium alloy semi-finished product for the production of elongated product and use thereof

A method for production of a fuel cladding tube for a nuclear reactor, characterized by the preparation of an ingot of an alloy of zirconium with the following composition by weight %: 0.8%&#x2266;Nb&#x2266;2.8%, traces&#x2266;Sn&#x2266;0.65%, 0.015%&#x2266;Fe&#x2266;0.40%, C&#x2266;100 ppm, 600 ppm&#x2266;O&#x2266;2300 ppm, 5 ppm&#x2266;S&#x2266;100 ppm, Cr+V&#x2266;0.25%, Hf&#x2266;75 ppm and F&#x2266;1 ppm the remainder being zirconium and impurities arising from production. The ingot is then subjected to forging, a hardening and thermomoechanical treatments comprising cold laminations separated by intermediate annealing, all intermediate annealings being carried out at a temperature below the &#x3b1;&#x2192;&#x3b1;+&#x3b2; transition temperature of the alloy, finishing with a recrystallization annealing and resulting in the production of a tube, whereupon an optional external cleaning of the tube is carried out and a mechanical polishing of the external surface of the tube is carried out to give a roughness Ra less than or equal to 0.5 &#x3bc;m. The invention further relates to a fuel cladding tube obtained thereby.

Method of manufacturing a fuel cladding tube for a nuclear reactor, and a tube obtained thereby

A method of fabricating a zirconium alloy flat product, the method being characterized by: preparing or casting a zirconium alloy ingot containing at least 95% by weight of zirconium, and including the usual impurities and alloying elements; shaping said ingot in order to obtain a flat product; subjecting said flat product to a &#x3b2; quenching operation under conditions that are determined to obtain within the flat product an acicular structure at the end of said &#x3b2; quenching; subjecting said flat product, after the &#x3b2; quenching, to a rolling operation performed in a single rolling sequence without intermediate annealing, said rolling being performed at a temperature lying in the range ambient to 200&#xb0; C., and having a reduction ratio lying in the range 2% to 20%; and subjecting said rolled flat product to an annealing treatment in the a range or in the &#x3b1;+&#x3b2; range, performed in the temperature range 500&#xb0; C. to 800&#xb0; C. for 2 minutes to 10 hours. A zirconium alloy flat product as obtained by the method, and a fuel assembly element for a power station nuclear reactor obtained by shaping the product.

Method for making a flat zirconium alloy product, resulting flat product and fuel, assembly component for nuclear power plant reactor made from said flat product

A process for the fabrication of zirconium alloy sheet specifically intended for the manufacture of structural elements for boiling water reactors, which includes the following steps:

Process for the production of zirconium alloy sheet metal having good

A process for the manufacture of a sheet, band or strip of zirconium alloy or hafnium alloy, comprising hot roughing of an ingot into a blank, then hot rolling of this blank in the alpha domain, this hot rolling including several passes which follow one or more reheatings in a furnace at one or more temperatures (TR), each of which improves the formability of this blank, then cold rolling which consists of one or more cycles of rolling pinch passing/heat treatment. The hot rolling pass following the last furnace reheating is followed by reheating of the hot rolled blank by at least 100.degree. C. at more than 4.degree. C./s by infrared heating means with a wavelength between 0.8 and 5 micrometers. The hot rolling is then continued until the thickness at the end of the hot rolling is less than or equal to 0.8 times the thickness of the hot rolled blank. The product obtained is used for the manufacture of zirconium or hafnium alloy parts for water-type nuclear reactors.

Process for the manufacture of a flat product of zirconoum alloy or

A process for the manufacture of a flat product of zirconium alloy having a width between 50 and 600 mm from a flat cold rolled product. The cold rolled product is heated to the beta range and maintained in the beta range using an infra-red heating device with a wavelength of between 0.8 and 5 microns, the maximum temperature difference over the width of the product being less than 35.degree. C. The product is then rapidly cooled and optionally annealed to obtain a flat product, which can be a strip, sheet or band.

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Ugine, France

Pierre Barberis