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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Acoustic emission/flaw relationships for inservice monitoring of LWRs

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5956756
; ; ; ;  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

The program concerning Acoustic Emission/Flaw Relationships for Inservice Monitoring of LWRs was initiated in FY76 with the objective of validating the application of acoustic emission (AE) to monitor nuclear reactor pressure-containing components during operation to detect cracking. The program has been supported by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. Research and development has been performed by Pacific Northwest Laboratory, operated for the Department of Energy by Battelle Memorial Institute. The program has shown the feasibility of continuous, on-line AE monitoring to detect crack growth and produced validated methods for applying the technology. Included are relationships for estimating flaw severity from AE data and field applications at Watts Bar Unit 1 Reactor, Limerick Unit 1 Reactor, and the High Flux Isotope Reactor. This report discusses the program scope and organization, the three program phases and the results obtained, standard and code activities, and instrumentation and software developed under this program.

Research Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Engineering; Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
NRC; Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
5956756
Report Number(s):
NUREG/CR-5645; PNL--7479; ON: TI92004727
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English