Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Creepdown of Zircaloy fuel cladding: initial tests. [BWR; PWR]

The report describes the initial creepdown tests of Zircaloy fuel cladding in which the surface displacements of the specimens have been measured as a function of time. Such measurements were made with a high accuracy, high precision eddy-current device capable of operation at elevated temperatures and pressures. Tests were conducted at 371/sup 0/C (700/sup 0/F) and external pressures of 14.5 to 17.2 MPa (2100 to 2500 psig) on specimens of reactor grade Zircaloy-4 fuel cladding in the unirradiated, stress relieved condition. Data are reported in several forms--as individual radial displacements of the cladding surface with time; as average diameter and ovality changes with time; in sequential photographs of analogue models; and with a preliminary discussion of mathematically modeled surfaces. It is concluded that the creepdown phenomenon, although complicated to test and describe, may not be as difficult to understand as previously thought. Further testing will refine present knowledge of cladding behavior relative to strain behavior under creep conditions

Cladding creepdown under compression. [BWR; PWR]

Light-water power reactors use Zircaloy tubing as cladding to contain the UO/sub 2/ fuel pellets. In-service operating conditions impose an external hydrostatic force on the cladding, causing it to creep down into eventual contact with the fuel. Knowledge of the rate of such creepdown is of great importance to modelers of fuel element performance. An experimental system was devised for studying creepdown that meets several severe requirements by providing (1) correct stress state, (2) multiple positions for measuring radial displacement of the cladding surface, (3) high-precision data, and (4) an experimental configuration compact enough to fit in-reactor. A microcomputer-controlled, eddy-current monitoring system was developed for this study and has proven highly successful in measuring cladding deformation with time at temperatures of 371/sup 0/C (700/sup 0/F) and higher, and at pressures as high as 21 MPa (3000 psig)

Review of cladding-coolant interactions during LWR accident transients

Some of the coolant-cladding interactions that can take place during the design basis loss-of-coolant accident and the Three Mile Island loss-of-coolant accident are analyzed. The physical manifestations of the interactions are quite similar, but the time sequences involved can cause very different end results. These results are described and a listing is given of the main research programs that are involved in coolant-cladding interaction research