Oxidation and embrittlement behavior of FeCrAl-ODS cladding tube under loss-of-coolant accident conditions

Narukawa, Takafumi; Kondo, Keietsu; Fujimura, Yuki; Kakiuchi, Kazuo; Udagawa, Yutaka; Nemoto, Yoshiyuki

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 587, p.154736_1 - 154736_8, 2023/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2023.154736

Evaluation of brittle crack arrest toughness for highly-irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels

Iwata, Keiko; Hata, Kuniki; Tobita, Toru; Hirota, Takatoshi*; Takamizawa, Hisashi; Chimi, Yasuhiro; Nishiyama, Yutaka

Proceedings of ASME 2021 Pressure Vessels and Piping Conference (PVP 2021) (Internet), 7 Pages, 2021/07

Technical basis of ECCS acceptance criteria for light-water reactors and applicability to high burnup fuel

Nagase, Fumihisa; Narukawa, Takafumi; Amaya, Masaki

JAEA-Review 2020-076, 129 Pages, 2021/03

JAEA-Review-2020-076.pdf:3.9MB

Each light-water reactor (LWR) is equipped with the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) to maintain the coolability of the reactor core and to suppress the release of radioactive fission products to the environment even in a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) caused by breaks in the reactor coolant pressure boundary. The acceptance criteria for ECCS have been established in order to evaluate the ECCS performance and confirm the sufficient safety margin in the evaluation. The limits defined in the criteria were determined in 1975 and reviewed based on state-of-the-art knowledge in 1981. Though the fuel burnup extension and necessary improvements of cladding materials and fuel design have been conducted, the criteria have not been reviewed since then. Meanwhile, much technical knowledge has been accumulated regarding the behavior of high-burnup fuel during LOCAs and the applicability of the criteria to the high-burnup fuel. This report provides a comprehensive review of the history and technical bases of the current criteria and summarizes state-of-the-art technical findings regarding the fuel behavior during LOCAs. The applicability of the current criteria to the high-burnup fuel is also discussed.

Results from studies on high burn-up fuel behavior under LOCA conditions

Nagase, Fumihisa; Fuketa, Toyoshi

NUREG/CP-0192, p.197 - 230, 2005/10

The Japanese regulatory criterion for a loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) is based on a threshold of fuel rod fracture during quenching, which was experimentally determined under simulated LOCA conditions. In order to evaluate the fracture threshold of high burn-up fuel rods, JAERI performs integral thermal shock tests simulating LOCA conditions. The tests have been performed with pre-hydrided, unirradiated claddings and high burn-up fuel claddings irradiated to 39 and 44 GWd/t at a PWR. It was shown that fracture/no-fracture threshold primarily depends on the oxidation amount and that the threshold decreases with increases in hydrogen concentration and axial restraint during the quench. It was also shown that fracture conditions of the tested high burn-up fuel claddings are consistent with the fracture threshold derived from unirradiated claddings with similar hydrogen concentrations.

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

Tachibana, Yukio; Nakagawa, Shigeaki; Iyoku, Tatsuo

Elevated Temperature Design and Analysis, Nonlinear Analysis, and Plastic Components, 2004 (PVP-Vol.472), p.39 - 44, 2004/07

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.

Probabilistic fracture mechanics analyses of reactor pressure vessel under PTS transients

Onizawa, Kunio; Shibata, Katsuyuki; Kato, Daisuke*; Li, Y.*

JSME International Journal, Series A, 47(3), p.486 - 493, 2004/07

The probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) analysis code PASCAL has been developed in JAERI. This code can evaluate the conditional probabilities of crack initiation and fracture of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) under transient conditions such as pressurized thermal shock (PTS). Based on the temperature and stress distributions in the vessel wall for four PTS sequences in a typical 3-loop PWR, parametric PFM analyses are performed using PASCAL on the variables such as pre-service inspection model, crack geometry, fracture toughness curve and irradiation embrittlement prediction equation. The results showed that the good perfomance inspection model had a significant effect on the fracture probability and reduced it by more than 3 orders of magnitude. The fracture probability calculated by the fracture toughness estimation method in Japan was about 2 orders of magnitude lower than that by the USA method. It was found that the treatment of a semi-elliptical crack in PASCAL reduced the conservatism in a conventional method that it is transformed into an infinite length crack.

Probabilistic fracture mechanics analyses of RPV under some PTS transients

Onizawa, Kunio; Shibata, Katsuyuki; Kato, Daisuke*; Li, Y.*

Proceedings of 11th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-11) (CD-ROM), 8 Pages, 2003/04

Probabilistic Fracture Mechanics (PFM) has been used in the fields of reliability analysis for important structural components. At JAERI, the PFM analysis code PASCAL has been developed. This code evaluates the conditional probabilities of crack initiation and fracture of a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) under transient conditions such as pressurized thermal shock (PTS). Four cases of PTS transients were selected based on the severity for a typical 3-loop PWR. Based on thermal stress analyses, PFM analyses were performed by using PASCAL code focusing on some important variables on the RPV fracture probability. The results showed that non-destructive examination methods had a significant effect on the fracture probability by more than three orders of magnitude. The comparisons of the results using fracture toughness estimation methods between in Japan and USA, and crack geometries between a semi-elliptical surface crack and an infinite surface crack are also made.

Hardening of Fe-Cu alloys at elevated temperatures by electron and neutron irradiations

Tobita, Toru; Suzuki, Masahide; Iwase, Akihiro; Aizawa, Kazuya

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 299(3), p.267 - 270, 2001/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3115(01)00694-8

no abstracts in English

Correlation between cleavage fracture toughness and charpy impact properties in the transition range of reactor pressure vessel steels

Onizawa, Kunio; Suzuki, Masahide

Proceedings of Asian Pacific Conference on Fracture and Strength '01(APCFS '01) and International Conference on Advanced Technology in Experimental Mechanics '01 (ATEM '01), p.140 - 145, 2001/00

In the structural integrity assessment of reactor pressure vessel, fracture toughness values are estimated by assuming that the radiation effect on fracture toughness is equivalent to that on Charpy properties. Therefore, it is necessary to establish the correlation between both properties especially on irradiation embrittlement. In this paper, we present the fracture toughness data obtained by applying the master curve approach that was adopted recently in the ASTM test method. Materials used in this study are five ASTM A533B class 1 steels and one weld metal. Neutron irradiation for Charpy-size specimens as well as standard Charpy-v specimens was carried out at the Japan Materials Testing Reactor. The shifts of the reference temperature on fracture toughness due to neutron irradiation are evaluated. Correlation between the fracture toughness reference temperature and Charpy transition temperature is established. Based on the correlation, the optimum test temperature for fracture toughness testing and the method to determine a lower bound fracture toughness curve are discussed.

Irradiation embrittlement of 2.25Cr-1Mo steel at 400C and its electrochemical evaluation

Nishiyama, Yutaka; Fukaya, Kiyoshi; Suzuki, Masahide; Eto, Motokuni

Journal of Nuclear Materials, 258-263, p.1187 - 1192, 1998/00

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-3115(98)00184-6

no abstracts in English