Abstract: Disclosed herein are zirconium-based alloys that may be fabricated to form nuclear reactor components, particularly fuel cladding tubes, that exhibit sufficient corrosion resistance and hydrogen absorption characteristics, without requiring a late stage ?+? or ?-quenching processes. The zirconium-base alloys will include between about 1.30-1.60 wt % tin; 0.0975-0.15 wt % chromium; 0.16-0.24 wt % iron; and up to about 0.08 wt % nickel, with the total content of the iron, chromium and nickel comprising at least about 0.3175 wt % of the alloy. The resulting components will exhibit a surface region having a mean precipitate sizing of between about 50 and 100 nm and a Sigma A of less than about 2×10?19 hour with the workpiece processing generally being limited to temperatures below 680° C. for extrusion and below 625° C. for all other operations, thereby simplifying the fabrication of the nuclear reactor components while providing corrosion resistance comparable with conventional alloys.

Abstract: Disclosed herein are zirconium-based alloys that may be fabricated to form nuclear reactor components, particularly fuel cladding tubes, that exhibit sufficient corrosion resistance and hydrogen absorption characteristics, without requiring a late stage ?+? or ?-quenching processes. The zirconium-base alloys will include between about 1.30-1.60 wt % tin; 0.0975-0.15 wt % chromium; 0.16-0.24 wt % iron; and up to about 0.08 wt % nickel, with the total content of the iron, chromium and nickel comprising at least about 0.3175 wt % of the alloy. The resulting components will exhibt a surface region having a mean precipitate sizing of between about 50 and 100 nm and a Sigma A of less than about 2×10?19 hour with the workpiece processing generally being limited to temperatures below 680° C. for extrusion and below 625° C. for all other operations, thereby simplifying the fabrication of the nuclear reactor components while providing corrosion resistance comparable with conventional alloys.

Abstract: Disclosed are a cladding tube for a nuclear fuel and a nuclear fuel element incorporating the cladding tube. The cladding tube consists of an inner zirconium liner layer and an outer zirconium alloy layer. The cladding tube has at least one of the following features: (I) the ratio a/b of the oxygen content a to iron content b in the zirconium liner layer is greater than 1.0, (II) the zirconium liner layer is made of a zirconium into the matrix of which impurities are dissolved, and (III) the second phase particles having microscopic sizes and dispersed in the inner surface of the zirconium liner layer and/or the outer surface of the zirconium alloy layer have been removed substantially. Owing to these features, undesirable stress corrosion cracking and local corrosion are remarkably suppressed in the cladding tube and the nuclear fuel element of the invention.