Lesson 3 ◆ 3.9 Nuclear Fuel Performance in Reactors

Fuel management is a balance between:

  • The economic imperative to burn fuel for longer (increasing burn-up)
  • The need to keep well within failure-risk limits

The nuclear industry has made significant improvements, reducing fuel failure rates by about 60% in the 20 years to 2006, to an average of approximately 14 leaks per million rods loaded (IAEA, 2010). Industry programmes led by EPRI and INPO continue to work toward zero fuel failures.