Deterministic damage of stress corrosion cracking damage in nuclear reactor coolant systems.
Project | Ranked #22
Need field data from the nuclear power industry on reactor operation during the development of stress corrosion cracking damage in reactor coolant systems.
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Funding for research project
Corrosion is responsible for about 80 % of all unplanned outages in operating nuclear power plants, with stress corrosion cracking being responsible for a significant fraction of that amount. To date, we have developed powerful, deterministic codes for predicting the impact of radiolysis on the chemistry of the water coolant and have used that to calculate the corrosion potential of the steel, which is the driving force for the nucleation and propagation of stress corrosion cracks. We have also developed the Coupled Environment Fracture Model for deterministically predicting crack growth rate (CGR) and we can now predict CGR at least as accurately as it can be measured in the laboratory. The goal of this project is to use these codes to predict the evolution of stress corrosion cracking damage in operating nuclear reactors, including Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs), Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs), and heavy water Moderated reactors, such as CANDUs. I seek collaboration with nuclear power plant operators to apply these codes to operating plants.