(GRS-671) Benchmark on Thermomechanical Fuel Rod Behaviour - Phase I Report

One of the key aspects for the safety of extended dry storage of used nuclear fuel in casks is the prediction of the fuel rod behaviour. A detailed and reliable prediction must consider the entire life span of the fuel rod: service in reactor with the associated radiation history, wet storage in the fuel pool, loading and drying of the cask, and finally the in-cask dry storage itself. Enhancing existing fuel performance codes to include all these steps and their associated phenomena is an ongoing task tackled by several groups. To foster the communication between these groups a benchmark was proposed at the 2019 Safety of Extended Dry Storage (SEDS) workshop. The report at hand summarizes the results of the Phase I.