Design and fabrication of reactor pressure vessel for High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR)

Tachibana, Yukio ; Nakagawa, Shigeaki  ; Iyoku, Tatsuo

The reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of the HTTR is 5.5m in inside diameter, 13.2m in inside height, and 122mm and 160mm in wall thickness of the body and the top head dome, respectively. Because the reactor inlet temperature of the HTTR is higher than that of LWRs, 2 1/4Cr-1Mo steel is chosen for the RPV material. Fluence of the RPV is estimated to be less than 110n/cm(E1 MeV), and so irradiation embrittlement is presumed to be negligible, but temper embrittlement is not. For the purpose of reducing embrittlement, content of some elements is limited on 2 1/4 Cr-1 Mo steel for the RPV using embrittlement parameters, J-factor and X-bar. In this paper design, fabrication procedure, and in-service inspection technique of the RPV for the HTTR are described.