WWER-440 Fuel Rod Experiments under Simulated Dry Storage Conditions

There is significant interest in Member States operating WWER reactors in obtaining information about the highest allowable cladding temperatures for spent fuel assemblies in dry storage facilities. Therefore, special efforts have been made to simulate dry storage tests with WWER-440 fuel rods at the State Scientific Centre of the Russian Federation, Scientific Research Institute for Nuclear Reactors (RIIAR) in Dimitrovgrad, using extra-budgetary funds supplied by the Government of Japan, leading to publication of the results in this publication. The aim is to provide an insight into the maximum spent fuel cladding temperature at the beginning of placement in a dry storage facility, in the context of the pre-cooling time. This publication contains the results of pre-characterization of the rods, descriptions of the tests and the results of characterizations in the two principal temperature regimes.