• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2610-2615
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• 2021

The prediction of irradiation-induced transition temperature shift for RPV steels is an important method for long term operation of nuclear power plant. Based on the irradiation embrittlement data, an irradiation-induced transition temperature shift prediction model is developed with machine learning method XGBoost. Then the residual, standard deviation and predicted value vs. measured value analysis are conducted to analyze the accuracy of this model. At last, Cu content threshold and saturation values analysis, temperature dependence, Ni/Cu dependence and flux effect are given to verify the reliability. Those results show that the prediction model developed with XGBoost has high accuracy for predicting the irradiation embrittlement trend of RPV steel. The prediction results are consistent with the current understanding of RPV embrittlement mechanism.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.80-99
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• 2023

This paper presents the results of investigating the change in welding residual stresses of the core shroud, which is one of subcomponents in reactor vessel internals, performing finite element analysis. First, the welding residual stresses of the core shroud were calculated by applying the heat conduction based lumped pass technique and finite element elastic-plastic stress analysis. Second, the temperature distribution of the core shroud during the normal operation was calculated by performing finite element temperature analysis considering gamma heating. Third, through the finite element viscoelastic-plastic stress analysis using the calculated temperature distribution and setting the calculated residual stresses as the initial stress state, the variation of the welding residual stresses was derived according to repeating the normal operation. In the viscoelastic-plastic stress analysis, the effects of neutron irradiation on mechanical properties during the cyclic normal operations were considered by using the previously developed user subroutines for the irradiation agings such as irradiation hardening/embrittlement, irradiation-induced creep, and void swelling. Finally, the effect of neutron irradiation on the welding residual stresses was analysed for each irradiation aging. As a result, it is found that as the normal operation is repeated, the welding residual stresses decrease and show insignificant magnitudes after the 10^th refueling cycle. In addition, the irradiation-induced creep/void swelling has significant mitigation effect on the residual stresses whereas the irradiation hardening/embrittlement has no effect on those.

• Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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• 2006.09b
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• pp.1161-1162
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• 2006

In order to overcome the recrystallization embrittlement and irradiation embrittlement of Mo, which are major problems for its fusion applications, internally nitrided Mo alloys were prepared by a novel multi-step internal nitriding. Neutron irradiation was performed in the Japan Material Testing Reactor (JMTR). After irradiation, nitrided Mo alloys exhibited $\iota$ ower ductile-brittle transition temperature than irradiated TZM. These results suggested that multi-step internal nitriding was effective to the improvement in the embrittlement by irradiation. Transmission electron microscope observation revealed that TiN particles precipitated by nitriding acted as a sink for irradiation-induced defects.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.543-550
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• 2012

The decrease in the fracture toughness of ferritic steels in a reactor pressure vessel is an important factor in determining the lifetime of a nuclear power plant. A surveillance program has been in place in Korea since 1979 to assess the structural integrity of RPV steels. In this work, the surveillance data were collected and analyzed statistically in order to derive the empirical relationship between the embrittlement and strengthening of irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels. There was a linear relationship between the yield strength change and the transition temperature shift change at 41 J due to irradiation. The proportional coefficient was about $0.5^{\circ}C$/MPa in the base metals (plate/forgings). The upper shelf energy decrease ratio was non-linearly proportional to the yield strength change, and most of the data lay along the trend curve of the US results. The transition regime temperature interval, ${\Delta}T_T$, was less than the US data. The overall change from irradiation was very similar to the US results. It is expected that the results of this study will be applied to basic research on the multiscale modeling of the irradiation embrittlement of RPV materials in Korea.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.11-20
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• 2009

Radiation effects on materials are inherently multiscale phenomena in view of the fact that various processes spanning a broad range of time and length scales are involved. A multiscale modeling approach to embrittlement of pressure vessel steels is presented here. The approach includes an investigation of the mechanisms of defect accumulation, microstructure evolution and the corresponding effects on mechanical properties. An understanding of these phenomena is required to predict the behavior of structural materials under irradiation. We used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at an atomic scale to study the evolution of high-energy displacement cascade reactions. The MD simulations yield quantitative information on primary damage. Using a database of displacement cascades generated by the MD simulations, we can estimate the accumulation of defects over diffusional length and time scales by applying kinetic Monte Carlo simulations. The evolution of the local microstructure under irradiation is responsible for changes in the physical and mechanical properties of materials. Mechanical property changes in irradiated materials are modeled by dislocation dynamics simulations, which simulate a collective motion of dislocations that interact with the defects. In this paper, we present a multi scale modeling methodology that describes reactor pressure vessel embrittlement in a light water reactor environment.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2018

Materials in nuclear power plants can be embrittled by neutron irradiation. According to existing studies, the effect of the material property by irradiation embrittlement can be approximately simulated by cold working (pre-strain). In this study, finite element damage analysis method using the stress-modified fracture strain model is proposed to predict J-Resistance curves of irradiated SUS316 stainless steel. Experimental data of pre-strained SUS316 stainless steel material are obtained from literature and the damage model is determined by simulating the tensile and fracture toughness tests. In order to consider damage caused by the pre-strain, a pre-strain constant is newly introduced. Experimental J-Resistance curves for various degrees of pre-strain are well predicted.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.271.1-271
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• 1999

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.188-195
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• 2002

To investigate the degradation of mechanical properties induced mainly by neutron irradiation, the tensile tests were conducted from room temperature to 300\\`c using the irradiated and the unirradiated Zr-2.5Nb pressure tube materials. The irradiated longitudinal and transverse specimens were collected from the coolant inlet, middle, and outlet parts of M-11 tube which had been operated in Wolsung CANDU Unit-1 and exposed to different operating temperatures and irradiation fluences. The different tensile behavior was characterized not by the fluences of irradiation but by the tensile loading direction. The transverse specimen showed the higher strength and lower elongation than those of the longitudinal one. It was believed that these phenomena resulted from the microstructure anisotropy caused by the extrusion process. The increased strength hardening and decreased elongation embrittlement of the irradiated material were compard to those of the unirradiated one. While the tensile strength of the inlet was higher than that of the outlet, the elongation of the inlet was lower than that of outlet. Considering the operation condition, it was proposed that the operating temperature could be a more effective parameter than the irradiation fluence for long-time life. Through the TEM observation, it was found that while the a-type dislocation density was increased, the c-type dislocation was not changed in the irradiated. The fact that the higher dislocation density was sequentially distributed over the inlet, the middle, and the outlet parts was consistent with the distribution of the tensile strength.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.311-322
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• 2013

High-Cr martensitic steel HT-9 is one of the candidate materials for advanced nuclear energy systems. Thanks to its excellent thermal conductivity and irradiation resistance, ferritic/martensitic steels such as HT-9 are considered for in-core applications of advanced nuclear reactors. The harsh neutron irradiation environments at the reactor core region pose a unique challenge for structural and cladding materials. Microstructural and microchemical changes resulting from displacement damage are anticipated for structural materials after prolonged neutron exposure. Consequently, various irradiation effects on the service performance of in-core materials need to be understood. In this work, the fundamentals of radiation damage and irradiation effects of the HT-9 martensitic steel are reviewed. The objective of this paper is to provide a background introduction of displacement damage, microstructural evolution, and subsequent effects on mechanical properties of the HT-9 martensitic steel under neutron irradiations. Mechanical test results of the irradiated HT-9 steel obtained from previous fast reactor and fusion programs are summarized along with the information of irradiated microstructure. This review can serve as a starting point for additional investigations on the in-core applications of ferritic/martensitic steels in advanced nuclear reactors.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2844-2853
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• 2023

A sophisticated Bayesian multilevel model for estimating group bias was developed to improve the utility of the ASTM E900-15 embrittlement trend curve (ETC) to assess the conditions of nuclear power plants (NPPs). For multilevel model development, the Baseline 22 surveillance dataset was basically classified into groups based on the NPP name, product form, and notch orientation. By including the notch direction in the grouping criteria, the developed model could account for TTS differences among NPP groups with different notch orientations, which have not been considered in previous ETCs. The parameters of the multilevel model and biases of the NPP groups were calculated using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. As the number of data points within a group increased, the group bias approached the mean residual, resulting in reduced credible intervals of the mean, and vice versa. Even when the number of surveillance test data points was less than three, the multilevel model could estimate appropriate biases without overfitting. The model also allowed for a quantitative estimate of the changes in the bias and prediction interval that occurred as a result of adding more surveillance test data. The biases estimated through the multilevel model significantly improved the performance of E900-15.