Publication Laka-library:
US Nuclear Power Plants -Showing their Age. Case Study: Reactor Pressure Vessel Embrittlement (1995)
| Author | Robert Pollard, Union of Concerned Scientists |
| Date | December 1995 |
| Classification | 3.01.0.20/16 (UNITED STATES - SAFETY) |
| Front | 
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From the publication:
Abstract As more nuclear power plants approach middle age, it is becoming increasingly clear that a wide variety of degradation mechanisms pose significant economic and safety risks. One such mechanism, radiation-induced embrittlement of the reactor pressure vessel, affects all US nuclear power plants and becomes progressively more severe the longer a reactor is operated. More than a decade after the US Nuclear RegulatoryCommission (NRC) expressed confidence that the vessel embrittlement problem was well understood, operating experience and new information show the opposite. State regulators should plan for the possibility that vessel embrittlement may cause more plants to close permanently before expiration of their 40-year operating licenses and is likely to preclude extending the operating licenses of other plants. Economic implications aside, embrittlement of reactor pressure vessels also poses serious safety risks. It could lead to rupture of a reactor vessel-an accident more severe than safety systems are designed to mitigate. Although some plants have taken steps to slow the rate of embrittlement, the problem has not been eliminated. The NRC must discontinue its practice of relaxing safety requirements or ignoring violations of its regulations. Public safety requires strict enforcement of the rules governing inspections of reactor vessels for cracks and those governing the maximum permissible vessel embrittlement State regulators should recognize that methods to counteract the effects of embrittlement are unproven and that vessel embrittlement may require early decommissioning of nuclear plants. Thus, before authorizing major expenditures for repairs or plant modifications unrelated to vessel embrittlement, regulators must consider whether permanent closure of the plant is the better economic choice for electricity consumers.
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