Quality Evaluation of the Nuclear Fuel Manufactured in Romania before 1990

Abstract

Nuclear fuel fabricated in Romania before June 1990 was stored and was not licensed for the use in reactor. A preliminary appraisal performed by AECL and Zircatec experts in 1990, considered this fuel as being of suspect quality. Taking into consideration that Nuclear Fuel Plant was qualified to produce CANDU-6 fuel, only after 1990, RENEL-GEN authorized FCN to evaluate the actual quality of the stock fuel, in 1996. A documented evaluation program was developed and implemented. Stock production of each year was considered as one fuel bundle lot. Quality verification was done on statistical basis. Random sampling was applied, with the condition that each production week was represented in the sample. The results show that the fuel quality is not acceptable for in-reactor use. Recovery solutions for the stock fuel were established and already applied. An independent review of the program, results and recovery solutions, made by AECL confirmed the consistency of the work performed by FCN for stock fuel quality evaluation.