Calculational-Experimental Monitoring of Radiation Damage Parameters on VVER Equipment and Their Application During Equipment Residual Life-Time Estimation

Abstract

The problem of ensuring the integrity of VVER type reactor equipment integrity is now most significant in connection with justifying the safety of the NPP units and the extension of their service life-time to 60 years and more. This issue primarily first of all concerns long term operated NPP power units with VVER-440s and VVER-1000s. The justification of the VVER equipment integrity depends on the reliability of estimation of the degree of the equipment damage. One of the mandatory requirements [1], providing the reliability of such estimation, and also the evaluation of VVER equipment life-time, is the monitoring of equipment radiation loading parameters. Relative to this requirement there is a problem the challenge of justification of such the normative parameters, used for an estimating of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) metal embrittlement, as the fluence and fluence rate of fast neutrons with energies above 0,5 MeV. Compliance with these requirements is analyzed during regular monitoring of radiation load parameters, which is performed by SEC NRS for all Russian NPP from the regulatory point of view. As a result of this activity, SEC NRS has recently elaborated one of the new approaches aimed to monitoring the radiation load of all equipment of Russian VVERs. The paper describes these approaches and shows the way of their implementation during monitoring procedures.