Corrosion of the AlFeNi alloy used for the fuel cladding in the Jules Horowitz research reactor

The AlFeNi aluminium alloy (1 wt% Fe, 1 wt% Ni, 1 wt% Mg) is expected to be used as nuclear fuel cladding for the Jules Horowitz experimental reactor. To guarantee a safe behaviour of the fuel, a good understanding of the fuel clad corrosion mechanisms is required. In this field, the experimental characterization of the selected alloy was performed. Then experimental studies of the aluminium alloy corrosion product obtained in autoclaves have shown an oxide film composed of two layers. This duplex structure results from a mixed growth mechanism: an anionic growth to develop the inner oxide and a cationic diffusion parallel to a dissolution–precipitation process to form the outer zone. Dynamic experiments at 70 °C have demonstrated that a solid diffusion step controls the release kinetic. Then post-irradiation exams performed on irradiated fuel plates were used to investigate the effects of the irradiation on the corrosion behaviour in the reactor core.