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

Steam generator tube integrity program: Phase II, Final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7119378· OSTI ID:7119378

The Steam Generator Tube Integrity Program (SGTIP) was a three phase program conducted for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) by Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL). The first phase involved burst and collapse testing of typical steam generator tubing with machined defects. The second phase of the SGTIP continued the integrity testing work of Phase I, but tube specimens were degraded by chemical means rather than machining methods. The third phase of the program used a removed-from-service steam generator as a test bed for investigating the reliability and effectiveness of in-service nondestructive eddy-current inspection methods and as a source of service degraded tubes for validating the Phase I and Phase II data on tube integrity. This report describes the results of Phase II of the SGTIP. The object of this effort included burst and collapse testing of chemically defected pressurized water reactor (PWR) steam generator tubing to validate empirical equations of remaining tube integrity developed during Phase I. Three types of defect geometries were investigated: stress corrosion cracking (SCC), uniform thinning and elliptical wastage. In addition, a review of the publicly available leak rate data for steam generator tubes with axial and circumferential SCC and a comparison with an analytical leak rate model is presented. Lastly, nondestructive eddy-current (EC) measurements to determine accuracy of defect depth sizing using conventional and alternate standards is described. To supplement the laboratory EC data and obtain an estimate of EC capability to detect and size SCC, a mini-round robin test utilizing several firms that routinely perform in-service inspections was conducted.

Research Organization:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (USA). Div. of Engineering; Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC06-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
7119378
Report Number(s):
NUREG/CR-2336; PNL-4008; ON: TI88015389
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English