Irradiation tests and post-irradiation examinations of DUPIC fuel

The technology of a DUPIC (Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In CANDU Reactors) fuel has been developed at KAERI for 10 years. To identify a robustness of the DUPIC fuel pellet, it has been irradiated for six times since August 1999 in HANARO. Among them, the first irradiation test was carried out with a simulated fuel. Therefore, a maximum burnup up to 6700 MWD/tHM was achieved through six irradiation tests of the DUPIC fuel. A remote instrumentation technology was also developed to obtain various on-line data including a centerline temperature and some remote devices had also been implemented. After irradiation tests of the DUPIC fuel, post-irradiation tests had been performed consecutively in the irradiation material examination facility (IMEF) at KAERI. A fuel performance code was also developed to compare the measured centerline temperatures for the fifth and the sixth irradiation tests.