Materials Data Acquisition and Life Assessment for BWR Reactor Pressure Vessel

摘要

The systematic testing of materials to obtain the data for life assessment on reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of boiling water reactor (BWR) is ongoing. The data of fatigue crack propagation in simulated BWR, reactor water and fracture toughness of low alloy steels and nickel base alloys are summarized in this paper. As a case study, fatigue crack propagation and crack stability at the feed water nozzle corner, made of a low alloy steel were evaluated for RPV life assessment. Postulating an 80-year normal operation of an 800 MWe BWR plant, it was predicted that fatigue crack growth would not penetrate through the nozzle corner wall and the nozzle material has enough toughness to prevent unstable fracture.