Evaluation of the reactor pressure vessel steels by positron annihilation

Abstract

This paper presents a comparison of commercially used German and Russian reactor pressure vessel steels from the positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) point of view, having in mind knowledge obtained also from other techniques from the last decades. The second generation of Russian RPV steels seems to be fully comparable with German steels and their quality allows prolongation of NPP operating lifetime over projected 40years. The embrittlement of CrMoV steels is relatively low due to effect of higher temperature which implies partial in situ annealing of primary microstructural point defects and therefore delays the degradation processes caused by neutron irradiation.PAS techniques can be effectively applied for evaluation of microstructural changes caused by extreme external loads (characterized by high dpa values) by proton implantation, with aim to simulate irradiation and for the evaluation of the effectiveness of post-irradiation thermal treatments. We used our actual and previous results, collected during last 20years from measurements of different RPV-steels in “as received”, irradiated and post-irradiation annealed state and compare them with the aim to contribute to general knowledge based on experimental PAS data.Actual results from irradiated German and Russian steels confirmed that no large voids or vacancy clusters were formed at defined irradiation conditions stated according to the real operational conditions at nuclear power plants. This indicate the fact that vacancy type defects bear hardly any responsibility for radiation-induced hardening and embrittlement of reactor pressure vessel steels and does not affect significantly the long-term operation of nuclear power plants from safety point of view.