Reactor pressure vessel structural integrity research

Reactor Pressure Vessel Embrittlement—i

Aging and Life Management System of Reactor Pressure Vessel

Reactor pressure vessel (RPV), the only key component that can not be replaced in nuclear power plants (NPPs), is the main barrier against the radioactive leakage. The lifetime of NPPs is dependent heavily on the life of RPV, and thus, the aging and life research on a RPV is a key factor in determining the life extension of NPPs. The purpose of this paper is to introduce an aging and life manag...

Positron Annihilation Measurements on Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy is a valuable microscopic method to study radiation damage in nuclear reactor pressure vessel steels. At SCKoCEN, a new positron lifetime setup, suited to measure positron lifetimes in irradiated steel, is being constructed. The particularity of this setup is that the prompt count rate originating from the induced 60Co-activity in the steel is highly reduced. ...

Grain Boundary Segregation in Commercial Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

Grain boundary (GB) segregation of impurity/solute atoms in surveillance test specimens of a commercial western-type pressurized water reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel has been observed by using state-of-the-art 3D atom probe (3DAP) field ion microscope (laser-assisted local electrode-type atom probe: laser-LEAP). The GB segregation is considered to be an origin of the embrittlement of the R...

Structural Integrity and Moral Integrity

As engineers, a confliction readily appears in regards to cost efficiency against quality. Civil Engineer A of Peace Corps was assigned the task of the design and building of a desalination though electrodialysis plant in rural Uttar Pradesh, India. Desalination is the process of removing high salt contents from groundwater in order to render it drinkable. Of the total volume of water on Earth,...