Assessment and Management of Ageing of Major Nuclear Power Plant Components Important to Safety: BWR Pressure Vessel Internals
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IAEA-TECDOC-1471 Assessment and management of ageing of major nuclear power plant components important to safety: BWR pressure vessel internals October 2005 IAEA SAFETY RELATED PUBLICATIONS IAEA SAFETY STANDARDS Under the terms of Article III of its Statute, the IAEA is authorized to establish or adopt standards of safety for protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property, and to provide for the application of these standards. The publications by means of which the IAEA establishes standards are issued in the IAEA Safety Standards Series. This series covers nuclear safety, radiation safety, transport safety and waste safety, and also general safety (i.e. all these areas of safety). The publication categories in the series are Safety Fundamentals, Safety Requirements and Safety Guides. Safety standards are coded according to their coverage: nuclear safety (NS), radiation safety (RS), transport safety (TS), waste safety (WS) and general safety (GS). Information on the IAEA’s safety standards programme is available at the IAEA Internet site http://www-ns.iaea.org/standards/ The site provides the texts in English of published and draft safety standards. The texts of safety standards issued in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, the IAEA Safety Glossary and a status report for safety standards under development are also available. For further information, please contact the IAEA at P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. All users of IAEA safety standards are invited to inform the IAEA of experience in their use (e.g. as a basis for national regulations, for safety reviews and for training courses) for the purpose of ensuring that they continue to meet users’ needs. Information may be provided via the IAEA Internet site or by post, as above, or by e-mail to [email protected]. OTHER SAFETY RELATED PUBLICATIONS The IAEA provides for the application of the standards and, under the terms of Articles III and VIII.C of its Statute, makes available and fosters the exchange of information relating to peaceful nuclear activities and serves as an intermediary among its Member States for this purpose. Reports on safety and protection in nuclear activities are issued in other publications series, in particular the Safety Reports Series. Safety Reports provide practical examples and detailed methods that can be used in support of the safety standards. Other IAEA series of safety related publications are the Provision for the Application of Safety Standards Series, the Radiological Assessment Reports Series and the International Nuclear Safety Group’s INSAG Series. The IAEA also issues reports on radiological accidents and other special publications. Safety related publications are also issued in the Technical Reports Series, the IAEA-TECDOC Series, the Training Course Series and the IAEA Services Series, and as Practical Radiation Safety Manuals and Practical Radiation Technical Manuals. Security related publications are issued in the IAEA Nuclear Security Series. IAEA-TECDOC-1471 Assessment and management of ageing of major nuclear power plant components important to safety: BWR pressure vessel internals October 2005 The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Engineering Safety Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF AGEING OF MAJOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT COMPONENTS IMPORTANT TO SAFETY: BWR PRESSURE VESSEL INTERNALS IAEA, VIENNA, 2005 IAEA-TECDOC-1471 ISBN 92–0–109205–9 ISSN 1011–4289 © IAEA, 2005 Printed by the IAEA in Austria October 2005 FOREWORD At present, there are over four hundred operational nuclear power plants (NPPs) in IAEA Member States. Operating experience has shown that ineffective control of the ageing degradation of the major NPP components (caused for instance by unanticipated phenomena and by operating maintenance or manufacturing errors) can jeopardize plant safety and also plant life. Ageing in these NPPs must be therefore effectively managed to ensure the availability of design functions throughout the plant service life. From the safety perspective, this means controlling, within acceptable limits, the ageing degradation and wareout of components important to safety so that adequate safety margins remain, i.e. integrity and functional capability in excess of normal operating requirements. This TECDOC is one in a series of guidance reports on the assessment and management of ageing of the major NPP components important to safety. The reports are based on experience and practices of NPP operators, regulators, designers, manufacturers, and technical support organizations and a widely accepted Methodology for the Management of Ageing of NPP Components Important to Safety, which was issued by the IAEA in 1992. Since the reports are written from a safety perspective, they do not address life or life cycle management of plant components, which involves economic considerations. The current practices for the assessment of safety margins (fitness for service) and the inspection, monitoring and mitigation of ageing degradation of selected components of heavy water moderated reactors (HWRs), boiling water reactors (BWRs), pressurized water reactors (PWRs), and water moderated, water cooled energy reactors (WWERs) are documented in the reports. These practices are intended to help all involved directly and indirectly in ensuring the safe operation of NPPs, and also to provide a common technical basis for dialogue between plant operators and regulators when dealing with age related licensing issues. The guidance reports are directed at technical experts from NPPs and from regulatory, plant design, manufacturing and technical support organizations dealing with specific plant components addressed in the reports. The report addresses the reactor pressure vessel internals in BWRs. Maintaining the structural integrity of these reactor pressure vessel internals throughout NPP service life, in spite of several ageing mechanisms, is essential for plant safety. The work of all contributors to the drafting and review of this publication, identified at the end, is greatly appreciated. In particular, the IAEA would like to acknowledge the contributions of J.P. Higgins, M. Erve, J. Pachner, J. Hakala, B. Kastner, C. Dillmann, T. Mulford and Y. Motora. The IAEA officer responsible for this report was T. Inagaki of the Division of Nuclear Installation Safety. EDITORIAL NOTE The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Background ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Objective ............................................................................................................... 2 1.3. Scope ..................................................................................................................... 3 1.4. Structure ................................................................................................................ 3 References to Section 1................................................................................................... 4 2. DESCRIPTION OF RPVIS ........................................................................................... 5 2.1. Description ............................................................................................................ 6 2.1.1. Core plate................................................................................................ 6 2.1.2. Core plate ∆P/standby liquid control (SLC) line .................................... 6 2.1.3. Core spray piping .................................................................................... 6 2.1.4. Core spray sparger................................................................................... 7 2.1.5. Reactor water cleanup (RWCU) return sparger ...................................... 7 2.1.6. Control rod guide tube ............................................................................ 7 2.1.7. CRD Housing.......................................................................................... 7 2.1.8. Feedwater sparger ................................................................................... 8 2.1.9. In-core housing........................................................................................ 8 2.1.10. Internal recirculation pump ..................................................................... 8 2.1.11. Jet pump.................................................................................................. 9 2.1.12. LPCI coupling ....................................................................................... 10 2.1.13. Neutron source holders ......................................................................... 10 2.1.14. Orificed fuel support ............................................................................. 10 2.1.15. Core shroud..........................................................................................