Abstract
The components of nuclear power plants are generally designed for a lifetime of 40 years. The basis for this is a catalogue of transients representing the expected loadings. Incidence and nature of loadings actually sustained in operation depend, however, on the way in which individual plants are operated. The fatigue monitoring system described in the present paper considers loadings which actually occur in operation. It permits evaluation of plant operation from the point of view of the material fatigue experienced by components and consequently enhances understanding of operating performance. In many cases the design transients are conservative simulations of operating transients. The fatigue monitoring system enables these design reserves to be quantified and this permits component service life to be extended. On-line fatigue monitoring is an important element in nuclear power plant life extension, a topic which is currently much debated in the USA. When fatigue progresses more quickly than postulated in design because of the way the plant is operated, such monitoring makes it possible to target inservice inspections and to carry out upgrading operations during scheduled inspection outages to combat the problem. In Germany the first system for continuous recording of operational loadings was installed in the 1300 MWe plant Isar 2. This system is described and initial results are presented.
Published Version
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