• Corrosion Science and Technology
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.112-119
• /
• 2014

In this work, it is aimed to develop the fabrication method of axial stress corrosion cracking (SCC) defects having various sizes, on the outer diameter surface of the steam generator (SG) tubings. To control the length of the artificial SCC defect, the specific area of the SG tubing samples was exposed to an acidic solution after a sensitization heat treatment. During the exposure to an acidic solution, a direct current potential drop (DCPD) method was adopted to monitor the crack depth. The size of the SCC defect was first evaluated by an eddy current test (ECT), and then confirmed by a destructive examination. From the comparison, it was found that the actual crack length was well controlled to be similar to the length of the surface exposed to an acidic solution (5, 10, 20 or 30 mm in this work) with small standard deviation. From in-situ monitoring of the crack depth using the DCPD method, it was possible to distinguish a non-through wall crack from a through wall crack, even though the depth of the non-through wall crack was not able to be precisely controlled. The fabrication method established in this work was useful to simulate the SCC defect having similar size and ECT signals as compared to the field cracks in the SG tubings of the operating Korean PWRs.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.28-33
• /
• 2010

As a part of license renewal for the continued operation of Wolsong unit 1, the periodic safety review report was submitted near the end of design lifetime, 2012, and now is under reviewing. Major components of primary system such as pressure tubes, feeder pipes and so on are being replaced and many components of secondary system are also being repaired. So the license renewal of Wolsong unit 1 is expected to be acquired without significant issues. But on the other hand, steam generators of Wolsong unit 1 had the good performance and therefore the replacement and repair for the steam generator are not needed. Recently it is reported that some cracks were detected in a few of european steam generator with Alloy 800 tubes and the cause of cracks was the outer diameter stress corrosion cracking(ODSCC) due to the concentration of chemical impurities on the outer surface of tube. Accordingly the overall review on this issue was performed. The long-term operation is likely to results to form the concentration mechanism for the tube corrosion as the sludge build-up in the secondary side of steam generator and the crack in the crevice between tube and tube-sheet and expansion transitions is apt to be occurred. In this paper, the history of steam generator inspection and operation of Wolsong unit 1 are reviewed and the reliability of steam generator tube is evaluated and the steam generator aging management program for Wolsong unit 1 is introduced.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.883-888
• /
• 2014

This work presents the influence of noise originating from the tube itself on the detectability and sizing accuracy for laboratory-induced outer diameter axial cracks in nuclear steam generator tubes. The variations of signal amplitude and phase angle of the same cracks were analyzed when increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the tube itself from 9 to 18. It was experimentally verified that the detectability for small cracks was enhanced by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio. The phase angle also rotated to a value representing the actual position and depth of a crack when increasing the signal-to-noise ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.511-518
• /
• 2013

Steam Generator (SG) tube, as a barrier isolating the primary coolant system from the secondary side of nuclear power plants (NPP), must maintain the structural integrity for the public safety and their efficient power generation. So, SG tubes are subject to the periodic examination and the repairs if needed so that any defective tubes are not in service. Recently, corrosion related degradations were detected in the tubes of the domestic OPR-1000 NPP, as a form of axially oriented outer diameter stress corrosion cracking (ODSCC). According to the studies on the factors causing the heat fouling as well as developing corrosion cracking, densely scaled deposits on the secondary side of the SG tubes are mainly known to be problematic causing the adverse impacts against the soundness of the SG tubes [1]. Therefore, the processes of various cleaning methods efficiently to dissolve and remove the deposits have been applied as well as it is imperative to maintain the structural integrity of the tubes after exposing to the cleaning agent. So qualification test (QT) should be carried out to assess the perfection of the chemical cleaning and QT is to apply the processes and to do ECT. In this paper, the chemical cleaning processes to dissolve and remove the scaled deposits are introduced and results of ECT on the artificial crack specimens to determine the effectiveness of those processes are represented.