Getting to grips with graphite: Supporting new Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor safety cases through collaborative working

摘要

1.Advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs) have provided approximately 15% of the UK's electricity for the last 30 years.2.As they age, their graphite cores start cracking. This presents a challenge to safe operation. Extensive cracking has already been observed at some reactors.3.A complex, collaborative and multidisciplinary programme of technical work has been set up to establish the levels of cracking that are tolerable with respect to nuclear safety margins.4.This article outlines some of the work involved, including a comprehensive inspections regime, statistical forecasting, a range of computational modelling methods, and a unique university-led experiment that demonstrates the response of the graphite core to a rare seismic event.