Behavior of nuclear fuel during a reactor accident

This page describes how uranium dioxide nuclear fuel and its zirconium alloy cladding behave under reactor accident conditions — principally loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) and reactivity-initiated accidents (RIAs). The article also addresses relevant in-reactor behaviour during normal nuclear reactor operation, because phenomena that develop cumulatively over the reactor lifetime — such as cladding hydriding, fuel swelling, and waterside corrosion — are the primary factors that determine how fuel responds when an accident occurs.

Source: Wikipedia — Behavior of nuclear fuel during a reactor accident (CC BY-SA 4.0)