Consideration of the effects of partial debonding of the IPyC and particle asphericity on TRISO-coated fuel behavior

The fundamental design for a gas-cooled reactor relies on the behavior of the coated particle fuel. The coating layers surrounding the fuel kernels in these spherical particles, consisting of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide layers, act as a pressure vessel that retains fission product gases. Many more fuel particles have failed in US irradiations than would be expected when only one-dimensional pressure vessel failures are considered. Post-irradiation examinations indicate that multi-dimensional effects may have contributed to these failures, such as (1) irradiation-induced shrinkage cracks in the inner pyrocarbon (IPyC) layer, (2) partial debonding between the IPyC and SiC layers, and (3) deviations from a perfectly spherical shape. An approach that was used previously to evaluate the effects of irradiation-induced shrinkage cracks is used herein to assess the effects of partial debonding and asphericity. Results of this investigation serve to identify circumstances where these mechanisms may contribute to particle failures.