Study on Plugging Criteria for Thru-wall Axial Crack in Roll Transition Zone of Steam Generator Tube

Abstract

The stream generator tubes represent an integral part of a major barrier against the fission product release to the environment. So, the rupture of these tubes could permit flow of reactor coolant into the secondary system and injure the safety of reactor coolant system. Therefore, if the crack was detected during In-Service Inspection of tubes the cracked tube should be evaluated by the pulgging criteria and plugged or not. In this study, the fracture mechanics evaluation is carried out on the thru-wall axial crack due to Primary Water Stress Corrosion Cracking in the roll transition aone of steam generator tube to help the assurence the integrity of tubes and estabilish the plugging criteria. Due to the Inconel which is used as tube material is more ductile than others, the plastic instability repture theory was used to calculate the critical and allowable crack length. Based on Leak Before Break concept the leak rate for the critical crack length and the allowable leak rate are compared and the safety of tubes was given.