Structural integrity of water reactor pressure boundary components: Annual report for 1986

This program is being conducted for the NRC to provide analytical and experimental methods and data that are necessary to ensure the structural safety and reliability of pressure boundary components in commercial, light water reactor power systems. Emphasis is placed on characterization of material properties performance in a nuclear environment for the application to plant-life extension and mitigation of the consequences of postulated accident scenarios. Current work is organized into three major tasks; (1) fracture mechanics investigations, (2) environmentally-assisted crack growth in high temperature, primary reactor water, and (3) radiation sensitivity and postirradiation properties recovery. Research progress in these three tasks for 1986 is summarized in this report