Safety assessment of the fuel assembly drop accident in Tehran Research Reactor

According to the process of loading, unloading, and shuffling a fuel assembly in Tehran Research Reactor core, the possibility of a fuel assembly fall and consequent damage must be considered in order to ensure the integrity of the assembly and no damage to the fuel plates after a possible drop accident based on the safety requirements. In this simulation, ABAQUS software is used for collision analysis. Three modes are considered for the drop of the fuel assembly and its impact on the bottom of the pool, which includes a vertical impact, with an angle of 45 degrees, and a horizontal impact. Based on the stress analysis, it was determined that the vertical collision with the bottom of the pool was the worst type, which could damage the side plates of the assembly, but the fuel plates inside the assembly were not seriously damaged and kept their integrity