Evaluation of sampling schemes for in-service inspection of steam generator tubing

This report is a follow-on of work initially sponsored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Bowen et al. 1989). The work presented here is funded by EPRI and is jointly sponsored by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The goal of this research was to evaluate fourteen sampling schemes or plans. The main criterion used for evaluating plan performance was the effectiveness for sampling, detecting and plugging defective tubes. The performance criterion was evaluated across several choices of distributions of degraded/defective tubes, probability of detection (POD) curves and eddy-current sizing models. Conclusions from this study are dependent upon the tube defect distributions, sample size, and expansion rules considered. As degraded/defective tubes form ''clusters'' (i.e., maps 6A, 8A and 13A), the smaller sample sizes provide a capability of detecting and sizing defective tubes that approaches 100% inspection. When there is little or no clustering (i.e., maps 1A, 20 and 21), sample efficiency is approximately equal to the initial sample size taken. Thee is an indication (though not statistically significant) that the systematic sampling plans are better than the random sampling plans for equivalent initial sample size. There was no indication of an effect due to modifying the threshold value for the second stage expansion. The lack of an indication is likely due to the specific tube flaw sizes considered for the six tube maps. 1 ref., 11 figs., 19 tabs