Heavy-section steel irradiation program. Semiannual progress report, October 1995--March 1996

Technical Report · Tue Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/469113· OSTI ID:469113

Corwin, W R

Maintaining the integrity of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a light-water-cooled nuclear power plant is crucial in preventing and controlling severe accidents which have the potential for major contamination release. The RPV is the only key safety-related component of the plant for which a duplicate or redundant backup system does not exist. It is therefore imperative to understand and be able to predict the capabilities and limitations of the integrity inherent in the RPV. In particular, it is vital to fully understand the degree of irradiation-induced degradation of the RPVs fracture resistance which occurs during service, since without that radiation damage, it is virtually impossible to postulate a realistic scenario that would result in RPV failure. For this reason, the Heavy-Section Steel Irradiation (HSSI) Program has been established with its primary goal to provide a thorough, quantitative assessment of the effects of neutron irradiation on the material behavior and, in particular, the fracture toughness properties of typical pressure-vessel steels as they relate to light-water RPV integrity. Effects of specimen size; material chemistry; product form and microstructure; irradiation fluence, flux, temperature, and spectrum; and postirradiation annealing are being examined on a wide range of fracture properties.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Engineering Technology; Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-96OR22464
• OSTI ID: 469113
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR--5591; ORNL/TM--11568/V7&N1; ON: TI97005922
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
FRACTURE PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL RADIATION EFFECTS
PRESSURE VESSELS
PROGRESS REPORT
STEELS
WATER COOLED REACTORS