Report of Examination of the Sample from Core Shroud (K1-H4) at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station Unit-1 (Contract research)

The Working Team for Examination of the Sample from Core Shrouds and Primary Loop Recirculation Pipi

At the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station Unit-1 of the TEPCO, cracks were confirmed at the weld joint (H4) in the middle of core shroud, by the visual inspection test for the weld joint of core shroud during the 13th periodic examination by a direction of the Nuclear and Industrial Agency. TEPCO has conducted a material examination with NFD on the specimen including cracks sampled from the core shroud. The present research has been performed with the objective to independently investigate and evaluate the materials by jointly attending the examination with NFD from the planning stage, receiving the final data given by the examination and providing JAERI's own evaluation report as a third-party organization for assuring the transparency. As a result, the consideration of residual stress induced with welding process and dissolved oxygen concentration in core cooling water, it was concluded that the cracks were initiated by SCC and propagated three-dimensionally through grains, and some cracks reached weld metal.