Integrity evaluation system of CANDU reactor pressure tube

Kim, Young‐Jin; Kwak, Sang-Log; Lee, Joon-Seong; Park, Youn-Won

doi:10.1007/bf02982979

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…DHC is a major concern in reactor designs which utilize zirconium alloys and is caused by increased hydride concentration coupled with the increased mechanical stresses associated with these defects as well as the heating and cooling cycles of the reactor (Kim et al, 2003;Puls, 1997;Sahoo and Pandey, 2010;Radu and Roth, 2012). DHC can lead to leaks within the reactor core which can potentially damage the reactor (Puls et al, 1998).…”

Section: Candu Reactor Inspectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated sizing and classification of defects in CANDU pressure tubes

Lardner¹,

West²,

Dobie³

et al. 2017

Nuclear Engineering and Design

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Pressure tubes within CANDU reactors are subject to frequent ultrasonic non-destructive examination to identify and characterize any defects that pose a risk of initiating Delayed Hydride Cracking (DHC), a well-known problem that occurs in zirconium components that are subject to high mechanical and thermal stresses. The analysis of the ultrasonic data gathered from the pressure tubes is often a long and repetitive process on the critical path to the restart of the reactor. Motivations for developing an automated system include saving time on the critical path, minimising human subjectivity from the process and increasing repeatability of measurements. An automated system providing decision support to analysts also reduces the risk of operator fatigue by minimising time spent processing routine defects. This paper describes a novel system for the automated analysis of CANDU pressure tube inspection data. The system automates the entire initial examination process including the complex decision-making procedures by implementing an expert system with an associated rule-base. Results from this system are detailed, illustrating the location and characterisation of defects and key features within the pressure tube with a high degree of accuracy while increasing repeatability through the removal of subjectivity in measurements.

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Section: Candu Reactor Inspectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated sizing and classification of defects in CANDU pressure tubes

Lardner¹,

West²,

Dobie³

et al. 2017

Nuclear Engineering and Design

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“…Failure due to hydride blisters has been a serious safety concern in other zirconium alloys such as Zircaloy-4 cladding in pressurized light water reactors (PLWR) in countries such as the USA, France and Japan [6][7][8][9], and Zr-2.5Nb pressure tubes in pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWR) in Canada, Argentina, India and South Korea [10][11][12][13][14]. Hydride embrittlement has not only occurred in zirconium alloys, but also in other important metals such as niobium [15], titanium [16], vanadium [17], and more recently in magnesium-aluminum alloy [18,19], the latter being a candidate in advanced automobile technology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A quantitative phase field model for hydride precipitation in zirconium alloys: Part II. Modeling of temperature dependent hydride precipitation

Xiao

Hao

Guo

et al. 2015

Journal of Nuclear Materials

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A quantitative free energy functional developed in Part I [1] was applied to model temperature dependent δ-hydride precipitation in zirconium in real time and real length scale. At first, the effect of external tensile load on reorientation of δ-hydrides was calibrated against experimental observations, which provides a quantitative magnification parameter (Mag) for the strain energy in free energy formulation. Then, two types of temperature-related problems were investigated. In the first type, the effect of

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