Radiation stability of WWER RPV cladding materials

Gillemot, F.; Horváth, Márta; Uri, G.; Fekete, Tamás; Houndeffo, E.; Acosta, B.; Debarberis, L.; Viehrig, Hans-Werner

doi:10.1016/j.ijpvp.2007.04.004

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…On the other hand, the impact of cladding on the reactor pressure vessel wall integrity has been investigated in a very limited way in spite of the fact that it can potentially be of great significance to RPV integrity. The reason is that plasticity and the elevated fracture toughness of cladding can provide additional strength to the pressure wall and this process can justify an extended reactor lifetime [30]. In addition, in thermal expansion coefficients, significant differences can be found with respect to pressure vessel base metals, which can cause a stress peak [31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic Investigation of Cladded Nuclear Reactor Blocks

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The wall, made of ferromagnetic steel, of a nuclear reactor pressure vessel is covered by an austenitic (very weakly ferromagnetic) cladding. In this work, we investigated how the base material and the cladding can be inspected separately from each other by nondestructive magnetic measurements. It was found that with the proper choice of the magnetizing yoke, these two different materials could be measured independently of each other. The effect of the yoke’s size was studied by the numerical simulation of magnetic flux, pumped into the material during magnetic measurements. Measurements were performed by two different sizes of yokes on pure base material, on base material under cladding and on cladding itself. Experiments verified the results of the simulation. Our results can help for the future practical application of magnetic methods in the regular inspection of nuclear power plants.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic Investigation of Cladded Nuclear Reactor Blocks

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The fracture toughness test results of austenitic cladding usually exhibit a sharp transition curve, in the shape of hyperbolic tangent, similarly to the ferritic steels. This anomaly of the cladding from other austenitic steels is caused by the relatively a high amount of delta ferrite contained in the cladding (3-8%) [1,2]. As can be seen from the graphs in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…In spite of this fact, not much attention has yet been devoted to the fracture properties of the cladding materials [1]. Different regulatory approaches allow the inclusion of the cladding in the RPV integrity assessment, provided that its properties are known during the RPV lifetime [2]. Therefore, obtaining knowledge of fracture mechanisms of the individual cladding layers, as well as obtaining knowledge on the effect of the neutron irradiation of the austenitic cladding, is essential [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Failure Mechanisms in Reactor Pressure Vessel with Austenitic Cladding

Štefan

Kytka

Brumovsky

2015

AMM

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The austenitic cladding of the WWER pressure vessel is made from two different layers with different fracture toughness values. Based on the fractographic analysis of the tested specimens in the initial, as well as in the irradiated conditions, it was found that individual failure micromechanisms take place during the crack propagation. The obtained results were used to find the relationship between the failure micromechanism changes and the fracture toughness values, as well as to assess the effect of neutron irradiation on the failure micromechanisms.

show abstract

“…In pressurized water reactor (PWR) systems, nominally austenitic stainless steels (SS), which contain a certain amount of ferrites, are cladded onto the reactor pressure vessel steel, the low alloy steel (LAS) nozzle portion in the dissimilar weld, and other components as an isolation barrier between the low alloy steel and the primary water environments [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The compositions of austenitic weld metals are typically opted to promote primary solidification as δ-ferrite and a solid-state transformation to austenite to prevent hot cracking during the cladding process [2,7]. The as-cladded microstructure often retains some volume percentages of the body-centered cubic (bcc) ferrite phase at room temperature, leading to a duplex austenitic-ferritic microstructure [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%