Notch reorientation of Charpy-V specimens of the BWR Philippsburg 1 through reconstitution

10 x 10 x 10 mm cubes, made from broken halves of un-irradiated and irradiated L-T oriented Charpy-V surveillance specimens of the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Philippsburg 1, were reconstituted to L-T and T-L oriented Charpy-V bars using the stud-gun welding technique of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK-CEN. Instrumented Charpy-V (CV) impact testing, according to the European Standard EN10045, was performed in order to determine the T-L transition curves of the reconstituted surveillance material. Losses of fracture energy and lateral expansion, mainly as a consequence of constraint of plastic flow due to the reconstitution welds, were detected. No change in shear fracture appearance was observed. The transition curves of the tested T-L reconstituted specimens represent conservative lower bounds that fulfill the CV upper shelf energy requirements of the Regulator. A correction curve allows estimation of the T-L transition curves of non-reconstituted T-L specimens