THERMAL ANNEALING OF REACTOR PRESSURE VESSELS
- ORNL
- ATI Consulting, Pinehurst, NC
Some of the current fleet of nuclear power plants is poised to reach their end of life and will require an operating life time extension. Therefore, the main structural components, including the reactor pressure vessel (RPV), will be subject to higher neutron exposures than originally planned. These longer operating times raise serious concerns regarding our ability to manage the reliability of RPV steels at such high doses. Thermal annealing is the only option that can, to some degree, recover irradiated beltline region transition temperature shift and recover upper shelf energy properties lost during radiation exposure and extend RPV service life. This paper reviews the experience accumulated internationally with development and implementation of thermal annealing to RPV and potential perspectives for carrying out thermal annealing on US nuclear power plant RPVs.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1364277
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2015 ASME Pressure Vessel and Piping Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 20150719, 20150723
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Models for embrittlement recovery due to annealing of reactor pressure vessel steels
Use of superheated steam to anneal the reactor pressure vessel