Selection of fuel cladding material for nuclear fission reactors

The growing understanding of the link between carbon emissions and global warming has been promoting a discussion on the environmental and safety viability of nuclear power generation. Current open fuel cycle reactors, however, result in low energy efficiency and produce large volumes of nuclear waste. More advanced nuclear reactors, which are currently under investigation, are expected to allow more efficient and safer use of nuclear energy. In all these cases, the fuel cladding is the most important safety barrier in fission nuclear reactors, as it restrains most of the radioactive fission products within its volume. The selection of fuel cladding material is based on many design constraints, such as neutron absorption cross section, service temperature, mechanical strength, toughness, neutron radiation resistance, thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and chemical compatibility. The present paper reviews the selection of nuclear fuel cladding materials since the early reactors, illustrating some of the main failure modes and briefly discussing the challenges facing the development of fuel cladding materials for generation IV reactors.