Time-dependent change in occurrence rate of steam generator tube leak in sodium-cooled fast reactors; Phenix and BN-600

ナトリウム冷却高速炉Phenix及びBN600における蒸気発生器伝熱管漏えい発生率の時間依存変化

栗坂 健一 

Kurisaka, Kenichi

本研究は、既存のナトリウム冷却高速炉SFRにおける観測データに基づき蒸気発生器SG伝熱管漏えいの発生率の時間変化を把握することを目的とする。対象とするSFRは仏国のPhenix及び露国のBN-600である。公開文献を基に、管-管板溶接数、管-管溶接数、母材の伝熱面積、SG運転時間、SG伝熱管漏えい発生日、漏えい位置、漏えいモジュールの交換などの漏えい後の是正措置を調べた。これらのデータを踏まえ、漏えい発生までの運転時間を推定し、上記部位毎に伝熱管漏えい発生率の時間変化をハザードプロット法により定量化した。結果、Phenix及びBN-600両者の管漏えい発生率は減少傾向を示した。Phenixの傾向は溶接及び運転条件の改善によるものと考えられる。BN-600については運転初期に破損に拡大した初期欠陥が原因と考えられ、漏えい後特別な対策が講じられていないことから単純に発生率が時間とともに減少したと考えられる。またPhenixの管-管溶接部の漏えい発生率は繰り返し熱応力によって短期に増大する傾向が示された。

This study aims to understand the time-dependent change in the occurrence rate of leak from steam generator (SG) tubes in sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFRs). The target SFRs in the present paper are Phenix in France and BN-600 in Russia. By reviewing publicly available literature that show data from the SFRs, we have investigated the numbers of tube-to-tubeplate welds and tube-to-tube welds, heat transfer areas of tube base metal, operating hours of SGs, dates when SG tube leak occurred, locations of leak, and corrective actions taken after tube leak events, such as replacement of the module, in which a leak occurred. Based on these, we have estimated the time to leak and quantitatively analyzed the time-dependent change of the occurrence rates of SG tube leak for each of the above-mentioned parts by hazard plotting method. The results show that the rates of both Phenix and BN-600 decreased over time. For Phenix, this is probably thanks to improved welding and SG operating conditions. For BN-600, it seems that in many cases, the probable cause of the leak was initial defects that developed to failure during the early stage of reactor operation, and that no special countermeasure was taken in the later stages. Therefore, it would be natural to assume that the rate simply decreased over time. The rate of leak at tube-to-tube welds in Phenix shows significant increase in a short term after a certain period of time. This can be caused by thermal stress repeatedly exerted on the materials.