Heavy-section steel irradiation program summary

Since a failure of the RPV carries the potential of major contamination release and severe accident, it is imperative to safe reactor operation to understand and be able to accurately predict failure models of the vessel material. For this reason, the Heavy-Section Steel Irradiation (HSSI) Program has been established with its primary goal to provide a thorough, quantitative assessment of the effects of neutron irradiation on the material behavior, and in particular the fracture toughness properties, of typical pressure vessel steels as they relate to light-water RPVs. The program includes the direct continuation of irradiation studies previously conducted within the Heavy-Section Steel Technology Program augmented by enhanced examinations of the accompanying microstructural changes. Effects of specimen size, material chemistry, product form and microstructure, irradiation fluence, flux, temperature and spectrum, and postirradiation annealing are being examined on a wide range of fracture properties including fracture toughness (KIc and JIc), crack-arrest toughness (KIa), ductile tearing resistance (dJ/da), Charpy V-notch impact energy, dropweight nil-ductility temperature (NDT), and tensile properties. Models based on observations of radiation-induced microstructural changes using field ion and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy provide a firmer basis for extrapolating the measured changes in fracture properties to wider ranges of irradiation conditions. The principal materials examined within the HSSI Program are highcopper welds since their postirradiation properties are most frequently limiting in the continued safe operation of commercial RPVs. In addition, a limited effort will focus on stainless steel weld overlay cladding, typical of that used on the inner surface of RPVs, since its postirradiation fracture properties have the potential for strongly affecting the extension of small surface flaws during overcooling transients. (orig./GL)