Core severe accidents with cermet fuels - a specific study for pressurizedwater reactors

Cermet fuels, as a result of the specificity of composites whose components have highly varied thermal-mechanical properties, present very different t ypes of behaviour with respect to transients and accident conditions. In th e first part of this paper, an analysis is made of the prospective behaviou r of such a composite under accident conditions. The second part focuses on the determination of orienting parameters that could effect a possible ret urn to the criticality of the cerium. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.