The ring compression test applied to nuclear fuel cladding is relatively easy to perform but difficult to interpret. It can be representative of the loading state associated to a hypothetical spent fuel assembly drop accident. This is particularly important for spent fuel cladding subjected to drying operations previous to storage and transportation, because they may produce hydride reorientation along the radial direction of cladding. In this paper, experimental testing and numerical simulations are combined to obtain operative failure criteria from the results of the ring compression tests on unirradiated pre-hydrided samples with radial hydrides, simulating drying, storage and subsequent transport conditions.

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