Analysis of Circumferential Welds in BWRs for Life Beyond 60

Abstract

This paper describes the probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) analyzes of the conditional probability of failure (CPF) due to brittle fracture of circumferential welds (CW) from a cold overpressurize event in boiling water reactors (BWR) operated for 72 EFPY. This analysis used the Fracture Analysis for Vessels, Oak Ridge (FAVOR) computer code, developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), under United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) funding. Two typical vessel configurations and the associated material properties for the beltline materials, CW, axial welds (AW), and plates (PL) were used. The analyses consider the potential effects of different fabrication options, shop vs field. Shop-fabrication is mainly by submerged arc weld (SAW) process, while field fabrication used the shielded metal arc weld (SMAW) process. In either case, repairs would have required the SMAW process. The calculations show that field-fabricated vessels would have a slight increase in the CPF compared to shop-fabricated vessels, but the assumed fraction of repair welds was more significant than the fabrication option. The details demonstrate the relative importance of surface-breaking flaws vs. embedded flaws for the assumed transient. The results confirm the conclusions from the original analysis from BWRVIP-05 and BWRVIP-74, the CPF for CW is orders of magnitude less than that of PL and AW regions of the vessel; therefore, the ASME Code-required volumetric examinations of the CW every 10 years as part of the in-service inspection (ISI) program does not change the overall CPF for the vessel. In all the cases analyzed, the total CPF values of the BWRs for 72 EFPY are below the goal for safe operation.