Reliability of steam generator tubing

Conference · Sat Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:467906

Kadokami, E ^[1]

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1. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Hyogo-ku (Japan)

The author presents results on studies made of the reliability of steam generator (SG) tubing. The basis for this work is that in Japan the issue of defects in SG tubing is addressed by the approach that any detected defect should be repaired, either by plugging the tube or sleeving it. However, this leaves open the issue that there is a detection limit in practice, and what is the effect of nondetectable cracks on the performance of tubing. These studies were commissioned to look at the safety issues involved in degraded SG tubing. The program has looked at a number of different issues. First was an assessment of the penetration and opening behavior of tube flaws due to internal pressure in the tubing. They have studied: penetration behavior of the tube flaws; primary water leakage from through-wall flaws; opening behavior of through-wall flaws. In addition they have looked at the question of the reliability of tubing with flaws during normal plant operation. Also there have been studies done on the consequences of tube rupture accidents on the integrity of neighboring tubes.

• Research Organization: CH2M Hill, Gainesville, FL (United States); Argonne National Lab., IL (United States)
• OSTI ID: 467906
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CP--0154; ANL--96/14; NEA/CNRA/R--(96)1; CONF-9510423--; ON: TI97004312
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
DEFECTS
JAPAN
LEAKS
NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING
PWR TYPE REACTORS
RELIABILITY
RUPTURES
SAFETY ANALYSIS
STEAM GENERATORS
TUBES