Review of the proposed materials of construction for the SBWR and AP600 advanced reactors

Technical Report · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10159721· OSTI ID:10159721

Diercks, D R; Shack, W J; Chung, H M; Kassner, T F ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)

Two advanced light water reactor (LWR) concepts, namely the General Electric Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (SBWR) and the Westinghouse Advanced Passive 600 MWe Reactor (AP600), were reviewed in detail by Argonne National Laboratory. The objectives of these reviews were to (a) evaluate proposed advanced-reactor designs and the materials of construction for the safety systems, (b) identify all aging and environmentally related degradation mechanisms for the materials of construction, and (c) evaluate from the safety viewpoint the suitability of the proposed materials for the design application. Safety-related systems selected for review for these two LWRs included (a) reactor pressure vessel, (b) control rod drive system and reactor internals, (c) coolant pressure boundary, (d) engineered safety systems, (e) steam generators (AP600 only), (f) turbines, and (g) fuel storage and handling system. In addition, the use of cobalt-based alloys in these plants was reviewed. The selected materials for both reactors were generally sound, and no major selection errors were found. It was apparent that considerable thought had been given to the materials selection process, making use of lessons learned from previous LWR experience. The review resulted in the suggestion of alternate an possibly better materials choices in a number of cases, and several potential problem areas have been cited.

• Research Organization: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Engineering; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 10159721
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-6223; ANL-94/13; ON: TI94013716; TRN: 94:013592
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: Jun 1994
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
BWR TYPE REACTORS
DESIGN
AGING
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTOR VESSELS
REACTOR SAFETY
CONTROL ROD DRIVES
REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
REACTOR INTERNALS
ENGINEERED SAFETY SYSTEMS
STEAM GENERATORS
TURBINES
FUEL STORAGE POOLS
REMOTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
COBALT BASE ALLOYS
REACTOR MATERIALS
220900
210100
210200
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
BOILING WATER COOLED
POWER REACTORS
NONBREEDING
LIGHT-WATER MODERATED
NONBOILING WATER COOLED