Investigating local dissolution of zirconium hydrides under elastic stress

Zirconium-based nuclear fuel cladding tubes envelop nuclear fuel pellets and thus are part of fuel rods used in nuclear power plants. We investigate possible degradation mechanisms related to hydrogen, which is taken up by cladding tubes during operation in nuclear power platns. We will provide hydrogenated zirconium tensile samples and will heat and strain them with our portable tensile testing machine INCHAMEL that can can be temporarily installed and used on the IMAT beamline. With this facility we can homogeneously heat the samples and determine stress/strain influences on the local dissolution behaviour of zirconium hydrides in dependence on the hydrogen solubility and the chemical potential of hydrogen. It is expected that an applied mechanical load increases the solubility and the diffusivity of hydrogen, which will be measured in terms of diffusion coefficients.