Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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IDENTIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT OF AGING-RELATED DEGRADATION OCCURRENCES IN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS

  • Choi, In-Kil (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Choun, Young-Sun (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Kim, Min-Kyu (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) ;
  • Nie, Jinsuo (Brookhaven National Laboratory) ;
  • Braverman, Joseph I. (Brookhaven National Laboratory) ;
  • Hofmayer, Charles H. (Brookhaven National Laboratory)
  • Received : 2010.09.15
  • Accepted : 2011.07.18
  • Published : 2012.04.25
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Abstract

Aging-related degradation of nuclear power plant components is an important aspect to consider in securing the long term safety of the plant, especially the seismic safety, since the degradation of the components affects not only their seismic capacity but their response. This can cause a change in the seismic margin of a component and the overall seismic safety of a system. To better understand the status and characteristics of degradation of components in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs), the degradation occurrences of components in the U.S. NPPs were identified by reviewing recent publicly available information sources and the characteristics of these occurrences were evaluated and compared to observations from the past. Ten categories of components that are of high risk significance in Korean NPPs were identified, comprising anchorage, concrete, containment, exchanger, filter, piping systems, reactor pressure vessels, structural steel, tanks, and vessels. Software tools were developed to expedite the review process. Results from this review effort were compared to previous data in the literature to characterize the overall degradation trends.

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References

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