Mitigation performance indicator for boiling water reactors

All U.S. boiling water reactors (BWRs) inject hydrogen for mitigation of intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC), and most currently use or plan to use noble metals technology. The EPRI Boiling Water Reactor Vessels and Internals Project (BWRVIP) developed a Mitigation Performance Indicator (MPI) in 2006 to accurately depict to management the status of mitigation equipment and as a standardized way to show the overall health of reactor vessel internals from a chemistry perspective. It is a 'Needed' requirement in the EPRI BWR Water Chemistry Guidelines that plants have an MPI, and use of the BWRVIP MPI is a 'Good Practice'. The MPI is aligned with inspection relief criteria for reactor piping and internal components for U.S. BWRs. This paper discusses the history of the MPI, from its first use for plants operating with moderate hydrogen water chemistry (HWC-M) or Noble Metal Chemical Application (NMCA) + HWC to its more recent use for plants operating with On-Line NobleChem™ (OLNC) + HWC. Key mitigation parameters are discussed along with the technical bases for the indicators associated with the parameters. (author)