Views of TAGSI on the effects of gamma irradiation on the mechanical properties of irradiated ferritic steel reactor pressure vessels

摘要

The paper reviews and analyses the effects of gamma irradiation dose on the properties of ferritic steels used in reactor pressure vessels (RPVs). It explains factors that affect the embrittlement of a RPV steel induced by combinations of fast neutrons, thermal neutrons, and gamma irradiation. TAGSI were asked to consider the effects of gamma irradiation dose on the properties of steels used in reactor pressure vessels. TAGSI endorsed the use of the MCBEND code to calculate gamma fluxes and energetic gamma ray displacement cross-sections calculated using either Baumann or Alexander methods. TAGSI endorsed the calculation of the materials property changes due to an additional gamma dose using trend curves based on empirical correlation to neutron-induced damage (where k_(gamma)~ 1 + - 0.25).