Fuel rods are base element of a fuel assembly. Fuel rods have the purpose of containing fission products, ensuring mechanical support for the pellets, and allowing the heat removal to the coolant fluid of the heat generated by nuclear reactions. Typical fuel rod, has a length of some 4 m, with a diameter of around 1 cm. Fuel rods are made of zirconium alloy (e.g. Zr + 1%Nb), which is widely used as a cladding for nuclear reactor fuels. The desired properties of these alloys are a low neutron-capture cross-section and resistance to corrosion under normal service conditions. Zirconium alloys have lower thermal conductivity (about 18 W/m.K) than pure zirconium metal (about 22 W/m.K).
Fuel rods contain fuel pellets, which then loaded and encapsulated within a fuel rod. Aside from the stacked pellets, and cladding tube, the rod comprises two welded endplugs, a plenum (or expansion chamber) to accommodate the fission gases released, and a spring, located inside the plenum, holding the fuel column in position. The fuel rod is filled with helium, at a pressure of about 25 bars, to compensate, in part, for the outside pressure, in the primary circuit (155 bars in PWRs).
A PWR fuel assembly comprises a bottom nozzle into which rods are fixed through the lattice and to finish the whole assembly it is ended by a top nozzle. There are spacing grids between these nozzles. These grids ensure an exact guiding of the fuel rods. The bottom and top nozzles are heavily constructed as they provide much of the mechanical support for the fuel assembly structure. The top nozzle ensures the assembly handling function. Spacing grids are welded onto the guide tubes and ensure, by means of springs and dimples, fuel rod support, and spacing. They may carry vanes, allowing improved mixing of fluid streams, thus enhancing the assembly’s thermal–hydraulic performance.
Western PWRs use a square lattice arrangement and assemblies are characterized by the number of rods they contain, typically, 17×17 in current designs. The enrichment of fuel rods is never uniformed. The enrichment is differentiated in radial direction but also in axial direction. This arrangement improves power distribution and improves fuel economy.
Russian VVER-type reactors use a fuel that is characterized by their hexagonal arrangement, but is otherwise of similar length and structure to other PWR fuel assemblies.
A typical composition of nuclear-grade zirconium alloys is more than 95 weight percent zirconium and less than 2% of tin, niobium, iron, chromium, nickel and other metals, which are added to improve mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The most commonly used alloy, to date, in PWRs, has been Zircaloy 4, however currently this is being replaced by new zirconium–niobium-based alloys, exhibiting better corrosion resistance. The maximum temperature, at which zirconium alloys can be used in water cooled reactors, depends on their corrosion resistance. Alloys of type Zircalloy, in which tin is the basic alloying element that provides improvement of their mechanical properties, have a wide distribution in the world. However in this case, the decrease of corrosion resistance in water and steam is taken place that resulted in the need for additional alloying. The improvement brought about by the additive niobium probably involves a different mechanism. High corrosion resistance of niobium alloyed metals in water and steam at temperatures of 400–550°C is caused by their ability to passivation with formation of protective films.