Pipe Cracking in U.S. BWRs: A Regulatory History (NUREG-1719)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: November 1999
Date Published: May 2000

Prepared by:
J. R. Strosnider, Jr., W. H. Koo
I. A. Davis, M. C. Modes

Division of Engineering
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

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Abstract

This paper was prepared, in part, to support discussions at an IAEA Regional Workshop on Environmentally Assisted Cracking of Nuclear Power Plant Austenitic Piping that was held in Slavutych, Ukraine from 22 to 26 June 1998¹. The paper presents a regulatory history and offers a perspective on intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) in U.S. boiling-water reactor piping. The paper focuses on regulatory and industry actions taken to assure that U.S. licensees manage IGSCC in a manner that provides safe and reliable plant operation. Although the paper does not offer extensive theoretical details on the IGSCC phenomenon, it does discuss some of the key technical issues that influenced regulatory positions and industry actions.

¹"Report of a Regional Workshop on Environmentally Assisted Cracking of NPP Austenitic Piping," IAEA TC Project RER/9/052, RBMK-SC-060, Vienna, November 4, 1998.