TEM investigation of plant-irradiated NPP bolt material

Analytical transmission electron microscopy (ATEM) was used to examine irradiation-induced damage in material removed from two different bolts from two different nuclear power plants. One section came from a French PWR, was made of CW AISI 316, and included a section of the bolt that had accumulated a dose of approximately 15 dpa during 19 operation cycles at 350 - 390 C. degrees. Another section came from a VVER bolt that was removed from the plant due to indications found in non-destructive examinations (NDE). The VVER bolt was made of solution annealed titanium stabilized 0X18H10T (corresponding to Type AISI 321) and had accumulated a fluence of 2.9 dpa. During the removal of that bolt, it was found that the bolt washer had been inappropriately spot welded to the shielding plate during assembly. Destructive investigations showed that the bolt had two large intergranular cracks, and the TEM samples were prepared from the material adjacent to those cracks. The PWR bolt had not failed, although cracks in the bolts with a similar history had been found previously. The fluence for the cold-worked AISI 316 PWR bolt was estimated to be about 15 dpa. Both the examined bolts showed a clear radiation induced segregation of alloying elements at the grain boundaries (GB-RIS), the presence of dislocation loops, the formation of precipitates, and linear deformation microstructures. Additionally, voids were found from the PWR bolt and the VVER bolt had a high density of dislocations. (authors)