An integrated evaluation of the performance effects of steam generator tube plugging

The integrity of the walls of a small number of steam generator tubes can degrade, with time, during normal operation of a Pressurized Water Reactor. In order to avoid the potential for unacceptable primary-to-secondary leakage, these steam generator tubes must be plugged. This paper presents an integrated evaluation of the impact of tube plugging on plant performance. Such an evaluation is recommended for determining the number of tubes that can be plugged without a significant adverse impact on plant steady state design performance and a large reduction in plant safety analyses margins