IRRADIATION INDUCED DEFECT CHARACTERIZATION IN REACTOR PRESSURE VESSEL STEEL BY SMALL ANGLE NEUTRON SCATTERING

Abstract

The degradation of the mechanical properties of the RPV (Reactor Pressure Vessel) steel during an irradiation in a nuclear power plant is closely related to the irradiation induced defects. The size of these defects is known to be a few nanometer, and the small angle neutron scattering technique is regarded as the best non destructive technique to characterize the nano sized inhomogeneities in bulk samples. The investigated the RPV steel has been used in YeongKwang nuclear power plant at Korea and the Cu content of the RPV steel is 0.06 wt%. The RPV steel was irradiated in the HANARO reactor at KAERI. The small angle neutron scattering experiments were performed by the SANS instrument in the HANARO reactor. The nano sized irradiation induced defects were quantitatively analyzed by SANS and the type of the irradiation induced defects was discussed in detail. The relation between irradiation induced defects and the yield strength was investigated. The characteristics of irradiation induced defects in low Cu containing RPV steel were discussed.