Research Plan and Progress to Realize Fracture Control of Nuclear Components

Abstract

For safety improvement after Fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant accident, mitigation of accident consequence for Beyond Design Basis Events (BDBE) has become important. Authors propose application of fracture control concept for mitigation of accident consequence of nuclear plants as follows. In the case of reactor vessels under high temperature and pressure conditions, small cracks from local failure will release internal pressure and can avoid a large scale ductile fracture of general portions. For piping under excessive earthquake, repeated elastic-plastic deformation and ratchet deformation dissipate vibration energy and reduce input energy from floor. They can prevent collapse of piping systems or break of pipe wall. Strength of pipe supports can be designed lower than pipe itself. Controlling the failure of supports would lead to plastic deformation without the break. The ratio of the frequency of seismic loading to the natural frequency of the piping system would also affect the failure behavior of piping systems. This paper describes research plan and progress to realize fracture control of nuclear components. The first step is clarification of actual failure modes and their mechanisms. Next step is development of relative strength evaluation method among failure modes. The third step is proposals of failure control methods. One of example is a vessel under high pressure and high temperature loadings. Another example is pipe under excessive earthquake.