Study on grain refinement for suppression of surface cracks in stainless steel used for nuclear reactor core (Thesis)

Hirota, Noriaki  

In recent years, extending the operational lifetimes of nuclear power plants and constructing new facilities have been conducted worldwide to achieve carbon neutrality. In Japan, following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident on March 11, 2011, only light water reactors (LWRs) that meet newly established safety standards have been permitted to restart, with most restarted plants being pressurized water reactors (PWRs), which differ from the boiling water reactors (BWRs) that were utilized at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) poses a serious safety concern in nuclear power plants. In particular, stainless steels such as SUS304 and SUS316 are susceptible to crack initiation due to oxide films and residual stresses. Countermeasures such as alloy composition modification and laser peening, which imparts compressive residual stresses, have been attempted; however, it remains uncertain whether compressive residual stresses can be retained for long periods under high-temperature conditions. Therefore, this study focuses on grain refinement processing as a novel approach for SCC mitigation and establishes a fabrication process for grain-refined stainless steels. The influence of grain refinement on SCC crack initiation was systematically analyzed under simulated reactor environments, and the mechanisms of SCC suppression were investigated. Furthermore, a surface-localized grain refinement technique was proposed and its effectiveness in suppressing SCC was evaluated. These results indicate that this technology can significantly contribute to SCC mitigation during long-term operation of nuclear power plants and is expected to play an important role in extending the service life of structural components such as shrouds.