The objective of this study is to nuclearize the Delayed Hydride Cracking (DHC) experiment developed as part of Pierrick FRANCOIS PhD research (2020-2023). This experiment enables the reproduction of the DHC phenomenon in Zircaloy cladding under laboratory conditions to determine the material's fracture toughness in case of DHC: KI_DHC.
The term "nuclearize" refers to the adaptation of the experiment to test irradiated materials within dedicated shielded enclosures (called hot cells), where materials are handled using remote manipulators. The experimental protocols described in Pierrick FRANCOIS' thesis must therefore be modified, and ideally simplified, to allow for their implementation in hot cells. This will require close collaboration with the personnel responsible for the tests and the use of numerical simulation tools developed during the same PhD research.
The development of this hot cell procedure will be used by the postdoctoral researcher to assess the risk of HC during dry storage of spent fuel assemblies by quantifying the fracture toughness of irradiated claddings.