A review of technical and regulatory developments needed to enable appolication of master curve technology to the fracture integrity assessment of commercial nuclear power reactors

摘要

The master Curve, as introduced by Wallin and co-workers in 1984, has evolved into a mature technology for characterizing the fracture toughness transition of ferritic steels. Considerable empirical evidence provides testament to the robustness of the Master Curve procedure. However, in 1997, the NRC staff detailed several technical issues requiring resolution prior to staff acceptance of applications of Master Curve technology to the fracture integrity assessment of nuclear RPVs [1]. Current and recently completed research program sponsored by both the NRC and EPRI focus on closure of these issues. This paper reviews the issues detailede in 1997, comments on their ocntianued relevance in light of recent research results, and details areas where either additional research or a change or research focus is warranted.