Review of candidate methods for detecting incipient defects due to aging of installed cables in nuclear power plants

Several types of test methods have been proposed for detecting incipient defects due to aging in cable insulation systems, none offering certainty of detecting all possible types of defects. Some methods apply direct detection of a defect in the cable; other methods detect changes in electrical or non-electrical parameters from which inference can be drawn on the integrity of the cable. The paper summarizes the first year of a program conducted at the National Bureau of Standards to assess the potential of success for in situ detection of incipient defects by the most promising of these methods