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Title: Long-term aging and loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) testing of electrical cables

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/385579· OSTI ID:385579

Experiments were performed to assess the aging degradation and loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) behavior of electrical cables subjected to long-term aging exposures. Four different cable types were tested in both the U.S. and France: (1) U.S. 2 conductor with ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) insulation and a Hypalon jacket. (2) U.S. 3 conductor with cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation and a Hypalon jacket. (3) French 3 conductor with EPR insulation and a Hypalon jacket. (4) French coaxial with polyethylene (PE) insulation and a PE jacket. The data represent up to 5 years of simultaneous aging where the cables were exposed to identical aging radiation doses at either 40{degrees}C or 70{degrees}C; however, the dose rate used for the aging irradiation was varied over a wide range (2-100 Gy/hr). Aging was followed by exposure to simulated French LOCA conditions. Several mechanical, electrical, and physical-chemical condition monitoring techniques were used to investigate the degradation behavior of the cables. All the cables, except for the French PE cable, performed acceptably during the aging and LOCA simulations. In general, cable degradation at a given dose was highest for the lowest dose rate, and the amount of degradation decreased as the dose rate was increased.

Research Organization:
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Engineering Technology; Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
385579
Report Number(s):
NUREG/CR-6202; IPSN-94-03; SAND-94-0485; ON: TI97000454; TRN: 96:029186
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Oct 1996
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English