RATU Nuclear power plant structural safety research programme 1990-1994. Final report

The major part of nuclear energy research in Finland has been organized as five-year nationally coordinated research programmes. The research programme on the Nuclear Power Plant Structural Safety was carried out during the period from 1990 to 1994. The total volume was about 76 person-years and the expenditure about 49 million FIM. Studies on the structural materials in nuclear power plants created the experimental data and background information necessary for the structural integrity assessments of mechanical components. The research was carried out by developing experimental fracture mechanics methods including statistical analysis methods of material property data, and by studying material ageing and, in particular, mechanisms of material deterioration due to neutron irradiation, corrosion and water chemistry. Besides material studies, new testing methods and sensors for the measurement of loading and water chemistry parameters have been developed