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Review of Recent ORNL Specific-Plant Analyses

Conference ·
OSTI ID:10107835
 [1];  [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been helping the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) develop the pressurized thermal shock (PTS) evaluation methodology since the mid-1970s. During the early 1980s, ORNL developed the integrated PTS (IPTS) methodology, which is a probabilistic approach that includes postulation of PTS transients, estimation of their frequencies, thermal/hydraulic analyses to obtain the corresponding thermal and pressure loadings on the reactor pressure vessel, and probabilistic fracture mechanics analyses. The scope of the IPTS program included development of the probabilistic fracture mechanics code OCA-P and application of the IPTS methodology to three nuclear plants in the US (Oconee I, Calvert Cliffs I, and H. B. Robinson II). The results of this effort were used to help establish the PTS Rule (10CFR50.61) and Regulatory Guide 1.154, which pertains to the PTS issue. The IPTS Program was completed in 1985, and since that time the ORNL related effort has been associated with long-term programs aimed at improving/updating the probabilistic fracture mechanics methodology and input data. In 1990, the NRC requested that ORNL review a vessel-integrity evaluation report submitted to the NRC by the Yankee Atomic Electric Co. for the Yankee Rowe reactor and that ORNL also perform an independent probabilistic fracture mechanics analysis. Details of the methodology and preliminary results are the subject of this paper/presentation.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USNRC
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OR21400
OSTI ID:
10107835
Report Number(s):
CONF-9111133--2; ON: DE92004222
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English