Corrosion cracking of JPDR the first Japanese light water reactor

Tsukada, Takashi ; Soma, Yasutaka   

Corrosion Cracking phenomena in JPDR (Japan Power Demonstration Reactor) the first Japanese Light Water Reactor is reviewed. This review describes two major cracking failure. The first was found during inspection in 1966 as the cracking failure on weld-overlay cladding at the inner wall of the top head. A series of analysis showed that some of the cracks reached the base metal across the weld boundaries and further penetrated into the vessel wall. Significant depletion of ferrite content was detected in manually welded part considered to assisted the cracking. These inspection result in improvement of the welding procedure and no similar failures have been reported in Japanese reactor. This mode of failure gave rise to a new research field studying the corrosion fatigue behavior of low alloy steel because of importance to assess pressure boundary of the reactor. The experiment of JPDR also contributed to the establishment of international cooperation for studying EAC (environmentally assisted cracking). The second failure was found in 1972 near the welded part between stainless piping and safe end. The extensive research concluded that this failure was caused by Stress Corrosion Cracking.