SCANAIR a transient fuel performance code Part two: Assessment of modelling capabilities

•The SCANAIR code is devoted to the study of irradiated fuel rod behaviour during RIA.•The paper deals with the status of the code validation for PWR rods.•During the PCMI stage there is a good agreement between calculations and experiments.•The boiling crisis occurrence is rather well predicted.•The code assessment during the boiling crisis has still to be improved.

In the frame of their research programmes on fuel safety, the French Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire develops the SCANAIR code devoted to the study of irradiated fuel rod behaviour during reactivity initiated accident. A first paper was focused on detailed modellings and code description. This second paper deals with the status of the code validation for pressurised water reactor rods performed thanks to the available experimental results. About 60 integral tests carried out in CABRI and NSRR experimental reactors and 24 separated tests performed in the PATRICIA facility (devoted to the thermal-hydraulics study) have been recalculated and compared to experimental data. During the first stage of the transient, the pellet clad mechanical interaction phase, there is a good agreement between calculations and experiments: the clad residual elongation and hoop strain of non failed tests but also the failure occurrence and failure enthalpy of failed tests are correctly calculated. After this first stage, the increase of cladding temperature can lead to the Departure from Nucleate Boiling. During the film boiling regime, the clad temperature can reach a very high temperature (>700 °C). If the boiling crisis occurrence is rather well predicted, the calculation of the clad temperature and the clad hoop strain during this stage have still to be improved.