Effects of environmental mitigation and water radiolysis on crack growth in simulated BWR environment in highly irradiated 316L stainless steel

Chimi, Yasuhiro; Kasahara, Shigeki; Hata, Kuniki; Nishiyama, Yutaka; Seto, Hitoshi*; Chatani, Kazuhiro*; Kitsunai, Yuji*; Koshiishi, Masato*

no journal, , 

In order to investigate effects of environmental mitigation and water radiolysis caused by -rays from radioactive material on irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) growth behavior for highly irradiated material, crack growth tests in simulated BWR water conditions (at 563 K) are performed. The specimens made of 316L stainless steels are irradiated with neutrons up to 12 dpa in the Japan Materials Testing Reactor (JMTR). One of the specimens is annealed at 973 K for 1 hour to show almost recovered mechanical and micro-chemical properties corresponding to the unirradiated material. For low electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) condition, the crack growth rate (CGR) is suppressed by about one order of magnitude in high stress intensity factor (K) condition. This result indicates that environmental mitigation for crack growth can be found even under severe conditions on material and stress factors. The effects of water radiolysis on the CGRs are discussed.