A Comparison of Western and Eastern Nuclear Reactor PVS

International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 76 (1999) 163–208
A comparison of Western and Eastern nuclear reactor pressure vessel

steels
L.M. Davies*
176 Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9PJ, UK
Received 14 July 1997; accepted 16 August 1997
Abstract
The task was essentially to compare the irradiation response of ‘East’ and ‘West’ steels. Since the plates and forgings of pressure vessels
must be welded together, it is obvious that the strength requirements of the welds and heat affected zones (HAZ) can be no less demanding
than those of the plates and the forgings themselves, particularly as experience has shown that the most likely location for flaws is in the
welds or their HAZs. These and the highly stressed regions of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) are important because neutron irradiation
degrades the mechanical properties of steels.
After comparing the various designs, manufacture and materials of the various RPVs, a comparison was made of the irradiation response
of these different steels. The role of mitigating the change in mechanical properties on irradiation by thermal annealing was also considered.
Particular codes/guides could only be used for the predicting results underpinning their own database because a major difference between
these national codes/guides is that the elements conferring irradiation sensitivity are different for the two cases considered, i.e. Russian codes
[1] (PNAE G-7-002-86) and the USNRC guide [2] (RG 1.99 Rev. 2). In the former, copper and phosphorus are significant, while copper and
nickel are identified as significant in the latter case.
Predictions were compared for ‘real’ materials used in NPPPVs whose compositions were known. The irradiation response of these steels
is coincidentally similar. The essential difference in behaviour is in the lifetime fluence. Eastern steels are irradiated to a much higher fluence
than Western steels. Differences in the predictions of the Eastern–Western codes/guides are a reflection of differences in the concentration of
deleterious elements and pessimisms of the various codes/guides, particularly at low concentrations of deleterious elements where they are
most conservative. Thirdly, and on a ‘fitness for purpose’ basis, the shift in transition temperature produces a limitation to the lifetime of the
earlier Eastern RPVs. However, by thermally annealing the RPV to mitigate the effect of neutron irradiation, where the conditions to recover
the mechanical properties of both Eastern and Western steels are nearly the same, the operational life of these older Eastern plants has been
extended. Life assurance of these plants has, therefore, become practicable.
This aspect of RPV technology, which is currently being considered in the US, could extend the operational life of nuclear power plants
and thereby reduce the cost of the electricity generated. 䉷 1999 Commission of the European Communities. Published by Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Preamble and summary experience [3] has shown that the most likely location for
flaws is in the welds or their HAZs. These and the highly
The proposal for this study and report was made under the stressed regions of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) are
aegis of the AMES group, supported by the WGCS AG3 and important because neutron irradiation degrades the mechan-
financed through a contract with DG XI of the CEC. As can ical properties of steels. Thus the change in mechanical
be deduced from the AMES connection the task was essen- properties (in particular their resistance to fracture), the
tially to compare the irradiation response of ‘East’ and concentration, size and location of defects and the opera-
‘West’ steels. (The term ‘steels’ usually includes forgings, tional loadings are paramount for the assessment of struc-
plates and welds. Since the plates and forgings must be tural integrity of the RPV to determine its fitness for
welded together to make the pressure vessel, it is obvious purpose).
that the strength requirements of the welds and their heat After comparing the various designs, manufacture and
affected zones (HAZ) can be no less demanding than those materials of the various RPVs, a comparison was made of
of the plates and the forgings themselves particularly as the irradiation response of these different steels. The role of
mitigating the change in mechanical properties on irradia-
* Fax: ⫹ 44-1865-862-119. tion by thermal annealing was also considered as part of the
0308-0161/99/$ - see front matter 䉷 1999 Commission of the European Communities. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0308-016 1(97)00075-6
164 L.M. Davies / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 76 (1999) 163–208
comparison of ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ steels. The com- difference in behaviour is in the lifetime fluence. Eastern
parison was restricted to those areas where a comparison steels are irradiated to a much higher fluence than Western
could indeed be conducted and to try and avoid those areas steels. Secondly, differences in the predictions of the East-
where there was insufficient data. The scope of the study ern–Western codes/guides are a reflection of differences in
was, to a large extent, determined by the finances available, the concentration of deleterious elements and pessimisms of
but this study ‘skimmed’ the subject to provide a framework the various codes/guides — particularly at low concentra-
for further expansion in the future. ‘West’ was taken to tions of deleterious elements where they are most conserva-
mean US type (standard) steels where the database was tive. Thirdly, and on a ‘fitness for purpose’ basis, the shift in
large and, in the main, published and any comparison with transition temperature produces a limitation to the lifetime
other Western steels could be readily conducted. ‘East’ was of the earlier Eastern RPVs. However, by thermally anneal-
taken to refer to Russian type (standard) steels. ing the RPV to mitigate the effect of neutron irradiation,
The Eastern and Western steels are distinguishable by where the conditions to recover the mechanical properties
their different chemical compositions. Their irradiation of both Eastern and Western steels are nearly the same, the
response was originally expected to be different because operational life of these older Eastern plants has been
of significant differences in deleterious element content extended. Life assurance of these plants has, therefore,
and alloying composition, too. But the concentration of become practicable.
key deleterious elements is so different that the underlying This aspect of RPV technology, which is currently being
mechanisms of embrittlement are significantly different. So, considered in the US, could extend the operational life of
at an early stage in this study it was evident that the only nuclear power plants and thereby reduce the cost of the
basis for the comparison of the irradiation response of the electricity generated. Current knowledge of irradiation
‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ steels was by means of the predic- degradation allows new specifications to be prepared for
tive equations used for calculating the shift in mechanical steels. But caution has to be exercised in using these empiri-
properties, increase in transition temperature during neutron cal models to specify ‘new steels’ because the value of the
irradiation being the commonest test being used to establish empirical models is highly dependant on the database upon
irradiation sensitivity. Further, particular codes/guides which they are based and the limitations of irradiation
could only be used for the results underpinning their own conditions upon which they were derived. There is a con-
database because a major difference between these national tinuing insufficiency of underlying relevant mechanistic
codes/guides is that the elements conferring irradiation knowledge on irradiation damage and, apparently, an insuf-
sensitivity are different for the two cases considered i.e. ficiency of data to fully evaluate the irradiation response.
Russian codes [1] (PNAE G-7-002-86) and the USNRC The intention of this study was to compare the neutron
guide [2] (Reg. 1.99 Rev. 2). In the former copper and irradiation behaviour of ‘Eastern’ and ‘Western’ steels used
phosphorus are significant, while copper and nickel are for RPVs. This report is concerned essentially with the
identified as significant in the latter case. Therefore, for comparison of the effect of fast neutron irradiation on East
obvious compositional reasons one code or guide cannot and West steels. The scope is necessarily constrained to
be used to ‘judge’ the materials which are different from those features which can be readily compared, both from
those in its generic database. a viewpoint of availability of data and what has actually
To overcome this difficulty and to enable a comparison to been measured. This means that the measure of irradiation
be made it is assumed that the neutron irradiation mechan- effects that can be readily compared is the shift in Charpy
isms underlying these codes/guides are the same but that brittle ductile transition with neutron irradiation.
any differences are just a reflection of the effectiveness of
their role at different concentrations in the different steels.
These effects manifest as differences in their respective 2. Introduction
databases. It will also be appreciated that the quoted neutron
energy spectrum was different in the two cases. Neutron Electricity is a commodity and it should always be
energies of E ⬎ 0.5 MeV are used in Eastern steels practice, remembered that the primary purpose of a nuclear power
but neutron energies of E ⬎ 1 MeV are used for Western plant, indeed of any power plant, is to make money by the
steels, necessitating the data to be harmonised in terms of generation of electricity. It does this by using a nuclear
the neutron energy. To overcome the difficulty of com- reactor to raise steam to generate electricity. However in
positional variations, irradiation temperature, differences this process the safety of the public and operators is para-
of the pessimisms in the formulation of the codes/guides mount. For the specific types of nuclear power plant (NPP)
and other imponderables, predictions were compared for being considered in this report, the reactor pressure vessel
‘real’ materials used in NPPPVs whose compositions were (RPV) is a key safety component, because it not only oper-
known. In this way a realistic comparison could be made, ates at elevated pressures and temperature, but also contains
that is, a usage comparison. This treatment led to three the reactor and its fission products. Additionally, in ‘life
major conclusions. Firstly, the irradiation response of management’ terms it is usually considered as an ‘irreplace-
these steels is coincidentally similar. The essential able component’. It has to accommodate all the functional
L.M. Davies / International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 76 (1999) 163–208 165
neutron fluence for a specific material as shown in Fig. 2. It

is therefore important to evaluate periodically the current
state of the RPV and provide advance information on the
condition of this possible NPP life limiting component. (For
a fuller description of these effects, other aspects of the
ageing of RPVs and a comparison of Russian and European
approaches for evaluating irradiation effects in RPVs, see
Refs. [4–11]. Because the highest neutron dose (fluence) is
suffered by those parts of the PV which are in the vicinity of
the reactor core and because mechanical property change is
related to the amount of neutron damage then the considera-
Fig. 1. Effect of neutron irradiation on the Charpy impact energy of RPV tions of this report relate to those regions where the material
steel. accumulates the highest fluence. The value of peak fluence
is different in the PVs of the ‘Western’ pressurised water
requirements arising from normal NPP operating conditions reactors (PWRs) when compared with the Eastern water–
as well as those loads, resulting from improbable events, water energy reactors (WWERs). Neutron irradiation sensi-
without failing because a duplicate or redundant back-up tivity of these materials is dependent on a number of factors.
system does not exist. A disruptive RPV failure could But, for given steels and temperature of operation the major
destroy all barriers–cladding, fuel and containment, and factor governing irradiation sensitivity is the deleterious
lead to large releases of radioactivity. It is therefore essen- elements content of the steels and welds. The main elements
tial to demonstrate a high reliability for the pressure vessel identified were copper, phosphorus and nickel. Impurity
coupled with a low probability of failure. It is also necessary copper in the base metal of early PVs arose from scrap for
to demonstrate that there are adequate margins for antici- melting which could have contained copper looms from
pated loading conditions to the end of its operational life. automobile scrap. Additional copper in Western welds
The RPV has to be manufactured and tested to high stan- came from the copper coating on electrodes for corrosion
dards to demonstrate its reliability (which includes non- resistance and good electrical conduction. WWER welds
destructive examination) before and during operation. So, contain high phosphorus which derived from the submerged
if the RPV is built from appropriate materials, using reliable arc welding fluxes. The copper content of Eastern welds
design codes, built (manufactured) to well tried methods, tends to be lower than US welds because it was not custom-
high standards, tested and operated (in the way assumed in ary to use copper coated filler wires. Nickel was added to
the design) correctly, the RPV integrity will depend, basi- improve the hardenability of the ferritic steels. Degradation
cally, on the materials’ mechanical properties and the extent in mechanical properties of steels and other structural alloys
which they degrade during operation. have been known from experiments since 1951 [12]. These
Neutron irradiation degrades the mechanical properties of deleterious elements were identified in a remarkable series
the RPV by, for example, increasing the ductile–brittle tran- of experiments which had high technological and economic
sition temperature and decreasing the upper shelf energy for impact on nuclear technology in the late 1960s [13,14] (Fig.
fracture (see Fig. 1). This ‘shift’ continues to increase with 3). The application of that knowledge to produce RPV mate-
neutron fluence and so shift can be plotted at a function of rial of modified specification in 1973 and the subsequent
manufacture of RPV steels and welds using the ‘newer’
materials was slow. These NPP, de-sensitised steels in
their pressure vessels) came into service in about the mid/
late 1970s — which, coincidentally, was roughly the peak
period for PWR and WWER production.
Currently, therefore, there are two main families of pres-
sure vessels for these reactors in service, namely, those
earlier ones with higher concentration of deleterious
elements and those ‘newer’ RPVs where the concentration
of deleterious elements has been reduced to lower levels.
The initial mechanical properties of steels are specified and
an allowance is made in the various designs for the degrada-
tion of the materials. Generally, ‘Western’ RPV materials
can be exemplified by PWRs in the USA. (other PWRPVs
from other sources and in other countries are considered in
this report by exception, that is, they will only be mentioned
Fig. 2. Example of the shift in ductile–brittle transition temperature versus if there is a specific point to be made which does not derive
neutron fluence. from the US experience). Boiling water reactors have been
Fig. 3. Role of impurities, after Potapovs and Hawthorne [13] showing the improvements in irradiation sensitivity by controlling the concentration of copper in
steels.
deliberately excluded even though the materials for their information. Results will be compared and conclusions
pressure vessels are the same, the neutron fluence to drawn. Mitigation of the effects of irradiation degradation
which they are exposed is lower and it will be seen later by annealing the irradiation damage of PWRPV and
that it is the higher fluence effects which are germane to the WWERPV steels will be described and discussed as will
thesis developed in this paper. the effect of subsequent re-irradiation as part of the compar-
The paper comments on generic Russian and US materi- ison exercise.
als. It will briefly describe their composition, heat treatment, Fig. 4 (from Ref. [15]) shows that the rate of introducing
mechanical properties and metallurgical structure together both PWRs and WWERs into service in the world has
with any other relevant inspections and treatments such as decreased dramatically since the peak of NPP construction
the inclusion of surveillance specimens to allow an early a couple of decades ago. There are now few ‘orders’ for new
insight into the irradiation response of the steels and PWRs and WWERs. For some time the emphasis by opera-
welds. After giving a brief description of neutron irradiation tors has been on protecting the investment in existing plant
effects, the report will then go on to discuss the effects of by plant life assurance and operational life extension. This
neutron irradiation on the mechanical properties of steels of need is likely to continue and will provide the motivation for
WWERPVs and PWRPVs and describe relevant ‘technological fixes’ in the areas covered in this report.
When the resurgence of nuclear power occurs, as it
inevitably will, there will probably be the need to investi-
gate newer candidate materials for nuclear pressure vessels
of and the application of the knowledge gained will be more
mechanistically based.
3. PWR reactor types, designs, listing and materials
Pressurised water reactors (PWR) operate with a ‘water

solid’ condition at a sufficient pressure which prevents
steam production in the pressure vessel circuit. There are
about 203 PWRs operating in the world (see Ref. [14])
while there are 74 PWRs either operating or under construc-
tion in the USA (see Table 1). Some PWRs have been
Fig. 4. Number and age of PWRS and WWERs in the world (note that the
number of new plants has decreased dramatically in the past 20 or so years. operating for many years (See Fig. 3, Ref. [15]). Amongst
New plants are now being built at a rate of less than about one to three per these American nuclear steam supply system (NSSS)
year [15]. vendors for these plants there are 52 Westinghouse (W)
Fig. 5. (a) Typical arrangement of a PWRPV made from plates and showing the location of welds. (b) Typical arrangement of a PWRPV made from forged
rings and showing the location of welds.
units, 15 Combustion Engineering (CE) units and 7 Babcock 3.1. US RPV steels
and Wilcox (B and W) units. Fig. 5 [16] shows the typical
arrangements for the PWR and Table 2 gives the approx- Most RPVs now in service were fabricated from welded
imate reactor pressure vessel (RPV) dimensions. In detail SA-302 Gr.B Mn–Mo plates in the 1960s [16,17]. This
there are significant differences in size, nozzle numbers meant that there was a comparatively large weld length in
(depending on the number of coolant loops or steam genera- the core beltline region of the RPV. Later RPVs were
tors determined by the power output of the nuclear steam mainly fabricated from forgings which not only reduced
supply system) and designs (the majority of nozzles being the weld length and eliminated axial welds in the beltline
‘set-in’ through the PV wall, penetration numbers and region of the reactor, but also used materials which were
design and also in other details between the various designs. less susceptible to irradiation damage. With the use of even
The RPV is cylindrical with a hemispherical bottom ‘head’ larger ingots the weld length was further reduced and RPVs
which is welded to the cylindrical portion. The cylindrical could be manufactured without welds in the core region.
portion, made from low alloy ferritic steel, may have long- Table 3 is a listing of the RPV plate, forging materials
itudinal (axial) welds in addition to ‘girth’ (circumferential) while Tables 4 and 5 shows the welding techniques used for
welds if the PV is made from plates. The ‘top’ or ‘upper’ RPVs in the regions exposed to neutron irradiation.
head is bolted on to the cylindrical portion through Most of the RPVs in service in the USA were made in the
gasketted flanges. Besides a number of coolant inlet and 1960s and 1970s, as can be deduced from Fig. 4 and Table 3
outlet nozzles there are control rod drive tubes, instrumen- previously. In the 1950s and 1960s RPVs were mainly fabri-
tation and safety injection penetrations. An essential differ- cated from ASTM A302 Grade B steel plate having a low
ence from the early WWERPVs from the viewpoint of nickel content and also from ASTM A302 Grade B nickel
evaluating irradiation effects, as will be seen later, is that modified steel which is now identified as ASTM A533
to minimise corrosion of the PWRPV the inside surface in Grade B class 1 steel which has been used in RPVs since
contact with the coolant water was clad with a minimum of the 1960s. Another RPV steel is the ASTM A 508 Class 2, a
about 3 mm thick austenitic stainless steel. nickel, chromium, molybdenum forging steel for RPV shell
Table 1
Listing of all US PWRs (connected to grid as at 31 Dec. 1995). Capacity is net. This listing does not include those plants taken out of service and/or which may
form part of the database on irradiation effects
Reactor Cap [MW(e)] Operator NSSS Grid Conn
Arkansas One-1 836 APL B&W 1974

Arkansas One-2 858 APL CE 1978
Beaver Valley-1 810 Duquesne W 1976
Beaver Valley-2 820 Duquesne W 1987
Braidwood-1 1090 Comed W 1987
Braidwood-2 1090 Comed W 1988
Byron-1 1120 Comed W 1985
Byron-2 1120 Comed W 1987
Callaway-1 1125 Union W 1987
Calvert Cliffs-1 835 BGE CE 1975
Calvert Cliffs-2 840 BGE CE 1976
Catawba-1 1129 Duke W 1985
Catawba-2 1129 Duke W 1986
Comanche Peak-1 1150 TUC W 1990
Comanche Peak-2 1150 TUC W 1993
Crystal River-3 812 FPC B&W 1977
Davis Besse-1 868 Toled B&W 1977
Diablo Canyon-1 1073 PGEC W 1984
Diablo Canyon-2 1087 PGEC W 1985
Donald Cook-1 1000 IMPCO W 1975
Donald Cook-2 1060 IMPCO W 1978
Farley-1 815 ALP W 1977
Farley-2 825 ALP W 1981
Fort Calhoun-1 476 OPPD CE 1973
H B Robinson-2 683 CPL W 1970
Haddam Neck 560 CYAPC W 1967
Indian Point-2 931 Coned W 1973
Indian Point-3 980 PASNY W 1976
Kewaunee 526 WPS W 1974
Main Yankee 870 MYAPC CE 1972
Mcguire-1 1129 Duke W 1981
Mcguire-2 1129 Duke W 1983
Millstone-2 873 NNEC CE 1975
Millstone-3 1120 NNEC W 1986
North Anna-1 900 VEPCO W 1978
North Anna-2 887 VEPCO W 1978
Oconee-1 846 Duke B&W 1973
Palisades 755 CPC CE 1971
Palo Verde-1 1270 APS CE 1985
Point Beach-1 493 WEP W 1970
Point Beach-2 441 WEP W 1972
Prairie Island-1 514 NSP W 1970
Prairie Island-2 513 NSP W 1974
R.E. Ginna 470 RGE W 1969
Salem-1 1106 PSEG W 1976
Salem-2 1106 PSEG W 1981
San Onofre-2 1070 SCE CE 1982
San Onofre-3 1080 SCE CE 1983
Seabrook-1 1155 PSNH W 1990
Sequoyah-1 1111 TVA W 1980
Sequoyah-2 1106 TVA W 1981
Shearon Harris-1 860 CPL W 1987
South Texas-1 1251 HLP W 1988
South Texas-2 1251 HLP W 1989
St Lucie-1 839 FPL CE 1976
St Lucie-2 839 FPL CE 1983
Surry-1 781 VEPCO W 1972
SURRY-2 781 VEPCO W 1973
Table 1 (continued)
Reactor Cap [MW(e)] Operator NSSS Grid Conn
Three Mile Island-1 786 GPU B&W 1974

Turkey Point-3 666 FPL W 1972
Turkey Point-4 666 FPL W 1973
Virgil C. Summer-1 885 SCEG W 1982
Vogtle-1 1164 GP W 1987
Vogtle-2 1164 GP W 1989
Waterford-3 1075 LPL CE 1985
Watts Bar-1 1165 TVA W 1996
Wolf Creek 1167 KGE W 1985
Zion-1 1040 Comed W 1973
Zion-2 1040 Comed W 1973
Table 2
General PWRPV dimensions
Wa CE a B&W a
Inside diameter (mm) 2770–4390 3560–4620 4340

(in) (109–173) (140–182) (171)
Beltline thickness (mm) 165.1–270 186.4–231.1 214.4–217.4
(in) (6.5–10.63) (7.34–9.10) (8.44–8.56)
Cladding thickness (mm) 2.8–4.1 3.3–8.4 4.8
(in) (0.11–0.16) (0.13–0.33) (0.19)
a
Westinghouse, Combustion Engineering, Babcock and Wilcox designs. The RPV fabricators were primarily Combustion Engineering, Babcock and
Wilcox, Chicago Bridge and Iron Company, but some vessels were fabricated in the Netherlands and one in Japan. The main supplier of steel plates for RPVs
was the Lukens Steel Company while the Bethlehem Steel Corporation and the US Steel Company were the main suppliers of forgings for PVs. The point being
made here is that a NSSS supplier was not necessarily the PV fabricator.
Table 3
Steels used in the core region of PWRPVs
Steel grade Heat treatment Vessels Usage dates Type
Plates
A212B N&T, Q&T a All mid 50s–60s C/Si
SA302B Q&T All mid 50s–60s Mn/Mo
SA302B modified Q&T All mid-late 60s Mn/Mo/Ni
SA533B-1 Q&T RPV 70s–present Mn/Mo/Ni
SA533B-1 (LoCu&P) Q&T RPV beltline 1973–present Mn/Mn/Ni
Forgings
SA508-2 Q&T F, N&R b 70s–present LoNi, Cr/Mo
SA508-3 Q&T F, N&R 70s–present Mn/Mo/Ni
a
Normalised and tempered.
b
Flanges, nozzles and rings.
Table 4
Welding techniques used in PWRPV manufacture
Technique Type Heat treatment Application Comment
Sub arc Auto Stress relief Wherever possible Good mechanical properties, high deposition
Sub arc Auto Stress relief Girth seams Reduced weld volume, narrow gap
Shielded metal Manual Stress relief Complex or irregular Flexible
Electroslag Auto Q&T Long seams in some BWRs V. Hi deposition rate
Table 5
Compositional requirements for the core shell region of PWRPVs. (WWER steel compositional requirements are included in addition for a ready comparison)
Steel C Mn Pmax Smax Cr Mo Ni Others
A302B 0.25 max 1.15–1.50 0.035 0.040 0.45–0.60

A336 0.19–0.25 1.10–1.30 0.035 0.035 0.35 max 0.50–0.60 0.40–0.50
A508 cl 2 (1971) 0.27 max 0.50–0.90 0.025 0.025 0.25–0.45 0.55–0.70 0.50–0.90
A533 grB (1971) 0.25 max 1.15–1.50 0.035 0.040 0.45–0.60 0.40–0.70
A508 cl 2 (1989) 0.27 max 0.50–1.00 0.015 0.015 0.25–0.45 0.55–0.70 0.50–1.00 Cu 0.10 (or 0.15) max
A508 cl 3 (1989) 0.25 max 1.20–1.50 0.015 0.015 0.25 max 0.45–0.60 0.40–1.00 Cu 0.10 (or 0.15) max
A533 grB (1989) 0.25 max 1.15–1.55 (0.035) (0.040) 0.45–0.60 0.40–0.70 Cu 0.10 max
0.012 0.015
15Kh2MFA 0.13–0.18 0.30–0.60 0.02 0.020 2.50–3.00 0.60–0.80 0.40 V
15Kh2NMFAA 0.13–0.18 0.30–0.60 0.01 0.012 1.80–2.30 0.50–0.70 1.00–1.50 V
courses, flanges and nozzles. A significant manufacturing five forged rings together which had been made by upsetting
observation in the evolution of steels was the incidence of top and bottom cropped ingots in a forge to make a large
underclad cracks reported in 1970 in A508 Class 2 steels cylindrical block approximately five feet thick and then
which were not observed in A533B Class 2 plates or in centrally piercing it. A forged shell is then made by forming
A508 Class 3 materials. Eventually it was established that the shell in the forge on a mandrel. The finished shell is then
it was the presence of chromium that had led to this degra- austenitized at 900⬚C for about 2 h then water quenched and
dation of the underclad region, but the phenomenon led to tempered at 690⬚C.
the general use of A508 Class 3 forging steel for RPVs. Full thickness welding techniques were used to assemble
Nickel was added to steels to improve impact toughness. the shell courses of the RPV. The commonest welding tech-
Molybdenum was found to improve the high temperature nique was the automatic submerged arc process using tandem
strength while reducing the steels susceptibility to temper weld wires of the required composition where the protective
embrittlement. It is claimed that chromium improves hard- environment was provided by a granular flux. The design of
enability even though it is usually described as a ‘ferritiser’, the welding gap was continuously developed and eventually
while manganese prevents the formation of iron sulphide at led to ‘narrow gap submerged arc welding’ which reduced
grain boundaries; this minimises surface cracking during the weldment volume and fabrication time. Automatic
hot forming and also improves the tensile strength of the submerged arc welding was commonly used because it
steel. In 1973, with the application of knowledge gained on provided excellent weldment mechanical properties and
the role of deleterious elements on the sensitivity of steels to had high deposition rates. The heat affected zones of welds
irradiation effects, the amount of copper and phosphorus (HAZ) are in a brittle state so the weld region is subsequently
was reduced for materials in the beltline regions of RPVs. heat treated to relieve stresses and to temper any martensite a
The steel making process, forging and casting procedures, hard, brittle constituent. After annealing, the fracture tough-
varied in detail from manufacturer to manufacturer and have ness of this region must be at least equal to that of the base
been described in many publications and so will not be materials which have been joined by welding. One of the
described here. Comments are limited to the materials and difficulties of verifying this point is associated with the diffi-
manufacture of those regions subjected to neutron irradia- culty of sampling the welds of a completed forged vessel and
tion. The evolution of these processes have culminated in the complication of possible local variation in properties in
the production of high quality large steel plates; large the direction of the weld temperature gradient.
(600 ton) ingots which were high quality ‘advanced steels’ All the interior surfaces of the PWRPVs were clad with
with respect to impurities and segregation and which austenitic stainless steel (Type 308 or 309 stainless steel) to
allowed the manufacture of PVs where there are no welds inhibit general corrosion and thereby eliminate the build up
in the beltline region and also to the production of hollow of radioactive ‘crud’ in the primary circuit. Cladding was
ingots, which eliminated much forging and large machining carried out by melting wires or strips of the cladding mate-
operations but at the same time produced high quality rial onto the surface of the vessel continuously using a
forgings having low concentration and segregation of impu- shielded metal arc process to produce a fusion weld with
rities and deleterious elements. the underlying material. Where the automatic arc process
Rolled stress relieved steel plates for PVs were hot was not practicable, a shielded metal arc or gas tungsten arc
formed at approximately 900⬚C into 120⬚ steel segments welding process was used.
which were then austenitized at 870⬚C followed by a Following any welding (through thickness or cladding) an
water quench. Three of these segments were then welded interstage stress relief and tempering treatment was
together and three of these shell courses form the cylindrical performed by holding at 61O⬚C for 1 h and when the vessel
section of the PWRPV. was completely assembled the entire vessel was post weld
The early US forged PVs were formed by welding about stress relieved by heating to 610⬚C ^ 15⬚C for ‘about 1 h
Table 6
A listing of US reactors together with the design codes and materials for the pressure vessels [19]
Plant Utility Vessel Date of ASME code Shell material Inner Shell Clad
supplier commercial diam. thickness thickness
operation (in) (in) (in)
Design information for Combustion Engineering, Inc. reactor vessels

Palisades Consumers Power CE 12/1971 ASME III winter SA-302 Grade B 172 8.6 0.25
1965 addenda modified
Maine Yankee Maine Yankee CE 12/1972 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.313
1965 addenda Class 1
Ft. Calhoun Omaha Public Power CE 6/1974 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 140 7.344 0.219
District 1967 addenda Class 1
Calvert Cliffs 1 Baltimore Gas & CE 5/1975 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.313
Electric 1967 addenda Class 1
Millstone 2 Northeast Utilities CE 12/1975 ASME III summer SA-533-65 172 8.625 0.125
1969 addenda Grade B Class 1
St Lucie 1 Florida Power & Light CE 12/1976 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.313
Calvert Cliffs 2 Baltimore Gas & CE 4/1977 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.313
Electric 1967 addenda Class 1
Arkansas Arkansas Power & CE 3/1980 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 157 8.625 0.125
Nuclear One Light 1970 addenda Class 1
Unit 2
St Lucie 2 Florida Power & Light CE 8/1983 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.313
San Onofre 2 Southern Calif. Edison CE 8/1983 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.125
& San Diego Gas & 1971 addenda Class 1
Elecric Co.
San Onofre 3 Southern Calif. Edison CE 4/1984 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.125
& San Diego Gas & 1971 addenda Class 1
Elecric Co.
Waterford 3 Louisiana Power & CE 8/1985 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 172 8.625 0.125
Light 1971 addenda Class 1
Palo Verde 1 Arizona Public Service CE 2/1988 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 182.25 9.062
Co. 1973 addenda Class 1
0.125
0.125
0.125
Design information for Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Yankee Rowe Yankee Atomic B&W 6/1961 ASME VIII 1956 SA-302 Grade B 109 7.08 0.109
Electric Co. edition
Haddam Neck Connecticut Yankee CE 1/1968 ASME VIII 1960 SA-302 Grade B 1541 0.63 0.156
Atomic Power Co. addenda
San Onofre 1 Southern Calif. Edison CE 1/1968 ASME VIII 1960 SA-302 Grade B 142 9.75 0.156
& San Diego Gas & addenda
Electric
Robert E. Ginna Rochester Gas & B&W 3/1970 ASME III summer ASTM A-508 132 8.5 0.156
Electric Corp. 1965 addenda Class 2
Point Beach 1 Wisconsin Electric B&W 12/1970 ASME III summer SA-302 Grade B 132 8.5 0.156
Power 1965 addenda
H. B. Robinson 2 Carolina Power & CE 3/1971 ASME III summer SA-302 Grade A 155.5 9.31 0.156
Light 1965 addenda
Turkey Point 3 Florida Power & Light B&W 12/1972 ASME III summer ASTM A-508 155.5 7.75 0.156
Surry 1 Virginia Power B&W/RDM 12/1972 ASME III winter ASTM A-533 157 8.25 0.125
Point Beach 2 Wisconsin Electric B&W/CE 10/1972 ASME III winter ASTM A-508 132 8.5 0.156
Power 1968 addenda Class 2
Zion 1 Commonwealth Edison B&W 12/1973 ASME III summer ASTM A-533 173 8.44 0.156
Table 6 (continued)
Turkey Point 4 Florida Power & Light B&W 9/1973 ASME III summer ASTM A-508 155.5 7.75 0.156
Prairie Island 1 Northern States Power CL 12/1973 ASME III winter SA-508 Class 3 132 6.69 0.196
1968 addenda
Surry 2 Virginia Power B&W/RDM 6/1973 ASME III winter ASTM A-533 157 8.25 0.125
Zion 2 Commonwealth Edison B&W 9/1974 ASME III summer ASTM A-533 173 8.44 0.156
Indian Point 2 Consolidated Edison CE 7/1974 ASME III summer SA-302 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
1965 addenda
Design information for Westinghouse Corporation reactor vessels
Prairie Island 2 Northern States Power CL 12/1974 ASME III winter SA-508 Class 3 132 6.69 0.196
1968 addenda
Kawaunee Wisconsin Public B&W/CE 6/1974 ASME III winter ASTM A-508 132 8.5 0.156
Service Corp. 1968 addenda Class 2
Donald C. Cook Indiana & Michigan CE 8/1975 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
1 Electric 1968 addenda Class 1
Indian Point 3 New York Power CE 8/1976 ASME III summer SA-302 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
Authority 1965 addenda
Trojan Portland General CB&I 5/1976 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.5 0.156
Electric Co. 1968 addenda Class 1
Beaver Valley 1 Duqesne Light B&W/CE 4/1977 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 157 7.88 0.156
Joseph M. Farley Alabama Power B&W/CE 12/1977 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 157 7.88 0.156
Salem 1 Public Service Electric CE 6/1977 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
& Gas 1965 addenda Class 1
Donald C. Cook Indiana & Michigan CB&I 7/1978 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 173 8.5 0.156
2 Electric 1968 edition Class 1
North Anna 1 Virginia Power RDM 6/1978 ASME III winter SA-508 Class 2 157 7.68 0.125
1968 addenda
North Anna 2 Virginia Power RDM 12/1960 ASME III winter SA-508 Class 2 157 7.68 0.125
1968 addenda
Joseph M. Farley Alabama Power B&W/CE 7/1981 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 157 7.88 0.156
McGuire 1 Duke Power Co. CE 12/1981 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
Salem 2 Public Service Electric CE 10/1981 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
& Gas Co. 1968 addenda Class 1
Sequoyah 1 Tennessee Valley RDM 7/1981 ASME III 1968 ASTM A-508 173 8.45 0.125
Authority edition Class 2
Design information for Westinghouse Electric Corporation reactor vessels
Sequoyah 2 Tennessee Valley RDM 8/1982 ASME III 1968 ASTM A-508 173 8.45 0.125
Authority edition Class 2
McGuire 2 Duke Power Co. RDM 3/1984 ASME III winter SA-508 Class 2 173 8.45 0.125
1971 addenda
Virgil C. South Carolina Electric CB&I 1/1984 ASME III 1971 SA-533 Grade B 157 7.75 0.125
Summer & Gas Co. edition Class 1
Callaway 1 Union Electric CE 4/1985 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.125
Byron 1 Commonwealth Edison B&W 6/1985 ASME III summer SA-508 Class 2 173 8.5 0.125
1973 addenda
Catawbe 1 Duke Power RDM 6/1985 ASME III winter SA-508 Class 2 173 8.45 0.125
1971 addenda
Diablo Canyon 1 Pacific Gas & Electric CE 5/1985 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
Wolf Creek Wolf Creek Nuclear CE 9/1985 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.125
Operating Corp. 1972 addenda Class 1
Catawba 2 Duke Power CE 8/1988 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
Table 6 (continued)
Millstone 3 Northeast Utilities CE 4/1988 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 173 8.65 0.156
Diablo Canyon 2 Pacific Gas & Electric CE 3/1988 ASME III 1968 SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
Co. edition Class 1
Byron 2 Commonwealth Edison B&W 8/1987 ASME III summer SA-508 Class 2 173 8.5 0.125
1973 addenda
Shearon Harris Carolina Power & CB&I 5/1987 ASME III winter SA-533 Grade B 157 7.75 0.125
Light 1971 addenda Class 1
Beaver Valley 2 Duqesne Light Co. CE 11/1987 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 157 7.88 0.156
Vogtle 1 Georgia Power Co. CE 5/1987 ASME III summer SA-533 Grade B 173 8.63 0.156
per inch of thickness’ so the total stress relief time was 20– convention but VVER according to international translitera-
25 h, but could be as long as 40 h. The ‘cool down’ rate is tion standards. In this AMES Report the IAEA WWER
important. For example, the B and W RPV heat treatment convention is adopted)]. OKB Gidropress is the designer
temperature [18] was 1125⬚F (608⬚C) with a cooldown rate of the WWER NPP for Russian and the previous Commu-
of 10⬚F h ⫺1 (5.5⬚C h ⫺1). (Of course the qualification test nity for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) countries.
sample heat treatments need to reflect the actual PV heat
treatments).
5.1. WWER types
4. Summary of description of US PWRS The materials used for WWER pressure vessels vary in
detail with the particular version of the reactor pressure
The outline design, manufacture and steels and their
composition used in the US PWRPVs have been described
in the preceding parts of this section. The only omission
has been to do with the general mechanical properties of
the steels and welds — which appear in a dispersed form
in many publications. However, and for the sake of
comparison, these are given for some of the steels in
Table 6.
Due to the amount of information, Table 7 below
summarises [19] much of the salient information on the
designer, manufacturer, the code that was used for design
and materials. It will be seen in Table 7 that the inside
diameter of the RPV increases with the power of the reactor
as given in Table 1. The abbreviations used in the table
denote:
CE — Combustion Engineering
B and W — Babcock and Wilcox
CB and I — Chicago Bridge and Iron
CL — Creusot-Loire
RDM — Rotterdam Shipyard
5. WWER reactor types, designs, listing and materials
[WWER (vodo–vodyanoy energeticheskiy reaktor)

(water–water power reactor) WWER according to IAEA Fig. 6. Comparison of WWER 440 (left) and 1000 (right) pressure vessels.
Table 7 Table 7 (continued)

List of WWERs
Kalinin V338 1 1984
WWER-440-V230 reactors in operation and shutdown (sd) (at June 1994) V338 2 1986
(these pressure vessels were produced exclusively at Izhora, Russia) 3 Under construction
4 Under cons (suspended)
Bulgaria Kozloduy 1 1974 V187 5 1980
2 1975 Novovoronezh
3 1980 Rostov 1 Under cons (suspended)
4 1982 2 Under cons (suspended)
Slovak Rep. Bohunice 1 1978 3 Under cons (suspended)
2 1980
Ukraine Khmelnitski 1 1987
Germany Greifswald 1 1973 sd 1990 2 Under construction
2 1974 sd 1990 3 Under construction
3 1977 sd 1990 4 Under construction
4 1979 sd 1990 Rovno 3 1986
4 Under construction
Russia Novovoronezh 3 1971 V302 South 1 1982
4 1972 Ukraine
Kola 1 1973 V338 2 1985
2 1974 3 1989
Armenia Armenia 1 1976 sd 1989 4 Under cons (suspended)
2 1979 sd 1989 (restarted Zaporozhe 1 1984
November 1995) 2 1985
3 1986
WWER-440-213 [in operation and under construction (cons)] 4 1987
Cuba Juragua 1 Under cons (suspended) a
2 Under cons (suspended) RPVs produced at Skoda, Pizen, Czech Republic WWER-1000 (in
operation and under construction).
Czech Rep. Dukovany 1* 1985
2* 1986
3* 1986
4* 1987 vessel which are all manufactured at three plants, viz, Izhora
near St. Petersburg, Atommash on the Volga and at the
Finland Loviisa 1 1977
Skoda plant in Plzen in the Czech Republic. But as we
2 1980
have seen in Fig. 4 the production rate of WWERs has
Hungary Paks 1* 1982 decreased dramatically in the last couple of decades. Back-
2* 1984 ground information for the different types of WWERs is
3* 1986
4* 1987
given below.
Russia Kola 3 1981

4 1984 5.1.1. WWER-210
Slovak Rep. Bohunice 3* 1984 The first two WWERs were the 70MWe unit at Rheins-
4* 1985 berg and the 210 commissioned in 1963 at Novovoronezh.
Mochovce 1* Under construction
2* Under construction
These were followed by a second prototype (365MWe)
3* Under construction operational in 1969. From these prototypes came a standard
(delayed) 44OMWe nuclear power plant that was designated the
4* Under construction WWER-440-V230. Usually built in modules of twin units,
(delayed) all have six loops, isolation valves on each loop, horizontal
Ukraine Rovno 1 1980 steam generators and all use 220MWe steam turbines.
2 1981
WWER-1000 (in operation and under construction) 5.1.2. WWER-440-V230

Bulgaria Kozloduy 5 1987 The first was Novovoronezh Unit 3 which began power
6 1991
operation in 1971. The two Armenian units are a variation of
Czech Rep. Temelin 1a Under construction this model which includes anti-seismic features. This type
2a Under construction has been described as having the first generation RPVs and
Russia Balakovo 1 1985 designed in the late 1960s. The PVs were welded by
2 1987
3 1988
automatic submerged arc using Sv-1OKhMFT welding
4 1993 wire and AN-42 flux. Of the 16 PVs produced nine are
5 Under cons (suspended) not clad with stainless steel: Kola 1 and 2, Armenia 1,
6 Under cons (suspended) Novovoronezh 3 and 4, Kozloduy 1 and 2 and Greifswald
Fig. 7. The main, lower, part of the WWER-440 RPV showing the location of the girth welds and the weld subjected to the highest fluence (weld 4).
1 and 2. Only limited evaluation of the initial properties was materials to evaluate the current state of plants and to
carried out, consequently, there is but limited data and no develop mitigation methods for the irradiation effects.
archive material now available for assessments — there
were no surveillance specimens included in these reactors.
5.1.4. WWER-1000
5.1.3. WWER-440-213 There are two, type V-302, and the remainder are type V-
A later type introduced in the 1970s. There are variants 320. The first of this 100OMWe type became operational in
(like housing the nuclear steam supply system in a contain- 1980 at Novovoronezh (unit 5). These are usually built in
ment structure as in the two units at Loviisa in Finland). The modules of twin units, all have four loops, horizontal steam
main difference between the V213 and the V230 is in the generators and all use 1000 MW steam turbines. A point to
provision of mitigants for the effects of severe accidents. note at this stage of this report [18] is that the welds of some
Generally, the interior of the pressure vessels of the V213 WWER 1000 have a nickel content of up to 1.9 wt% and
and WWER1000 are clad with stainless steel while many of thus having a possible marked irradiation sensitivity.
the V230, prior to the Loviisa vessels are not. These reactors
contained surveillance specimens for advance information
about the state of the RPVs and when specimens in the first 5.2. Different designs of WWERS
‘chains’ were tested a significant difference between actual
and assumed mechanical properties were observed — A diagram showing a comparison of the two main types
where the change in properties was greater than had been of WWER pressure vessel the 440 and the 1000 is shown in
assumed. Because of this, a large and comprehensive Figs. 6 and 7 below while Fig. 7 shows the position of Weld
programme was carried out on the WWER-440-230 4 — the weld which is exposed to the highest neutron flux.
Table 8
Shows the general dimensions and operating parameters for four types of WWER pressure vessels
V230(440) V213(440) V320(1000)
Mass (t) 215 215 320

Length (m) 11.8 11.8 10.9
O/D cylinder (m) 3.840 3.840 4.535
O/D nozzle region 3.980 3.980 4.660
Wall thickness without clad (m)
cylinder 0.140 0.140 0.193
nozzle ring 0.210 0.210 0.286
Working pressure (MPa) 12.26 12.26 17.65
Design pressure 13.7 13.7 13.7
Hydrotest pressure 17.1 19.2 24.6
Design wall temperature (C) 325 325 350
Vessel lifetime (y) 30 40 40
Vessel irradiation temperature (C) 268 268 289
Water gap (shielding and core) (m) 0.240 0.228 0.317
Water inlet temperature (C) 268 268 289
Water outlet temperature (C) 296 296 322
Number of loops 6 6 4
Max. neutron fluence (but see also Tables 18–23)
(nm ⫺2, E ⬎ 0.5 MeV)
Base metal 2.3 × 10 24 2.6 × 10 24 6.3 × 10 23
Weld 1.6 × 10 24 1.8 × 10 24 5.7 × 10 23
E ⬎ 1.0 MeV
Base metal 1.4 × 10 24 1.6 × 10 24 3.7 × 10 23
Weld 1.0 × 10 24 1.1 × 10 24 3.4 × 10 23
5.3. A listing of the WWERS PWR, results in a smaller water reflector gap and a higher
neutron flux at the vessel which in turn, leads to greater
Table 8. potential for irradiation changes in mechanical
properties.
5.4. Pressure vessels for WWERS • The decreased mass of the vessel led to the requirement
for higher strength properties and a decreased wall
The rationale for the small diameter of the WWER 440
thickness.
is that the forged and welded ferritic RPV had to be
• Two nozzle rings, the upper ones for coolant outlet
capable of being shipped on land, i.e. by road or rail and
nozzles and the lower for the inlet nozzles. This feature
that as a consequence this feature placed a major constraint
requires a weld between the upper and lower nozzle rings
on its dimensions — particularly its maximum diameter.
and leads to a partition of temperature in the vessel.
This, in turn, led to a thinner PV (and which also made it
There is no temperature gradient in the circumferential
lighter) because the diameter was reduced, this design
direction in any nozzle ring. Because there are two
feature had further repercussions on the end-of-life fluence
nozzle rings and a special design of control rods the
experienced by the RPV because it was subjected to a
pressure vessel is longer.
higher neutron flux — having a smaller water gap between
• Pressure vessels are only made from forgings, i.e. from
the active core and the PV. However, these particular pres-
cylindrical rings and plates forged into domes. The sphe-
sure vessels were made at a time when the effect of high
rical parts of the vessel bottom and cover are stamped
neutron fluence on mechanical properties was not well
from forged plates. In Russia, the forged domes were
understood and so an important factor in the size of PVs
made from two smaller plates and welded with electro-
could have been to do with the capability of steel plants to
slag techniques (which must be followed by quenching
produce large enough ingots for forging to eliminate welds
and tempering). In the former Czechoslovakia, the
in the beltline regions of WWERPVs and this may have
forging was a large plate made from a single ingot
been an important consideration in determining the size of
because no axial welds are allowed in the vessel. Inlet
the earlier WWERs. In addition the WWERs have certain
and outlet nozzles are not welded into the nozzle ring but
features, such as:
are machined from a thicker forged ring for the 440
• The vessel is welded to the circuit pipework on site. vessels and forged in from a thick forged ring for the
• The decreased vessel diameter when compared with the WWER1000 vessel.
Table 9 5.5. WWER steels

List of chemical elements used in Russian designations of WWERPV
materials [after S.Brumovsky, priv. comm.)] A high strength heat resistant Cr–Mo–V steel was devel-
Russian English Symbol Element oped for the WWER-440 RPVs from the very start of the
transcription WWER programme. This ferritic steel containing 0.13–
0.18 wt% C (for thicknesses up to 400 mm) was designated
A [A] N Nitrogen 15Kh2MF (the nomenclature to convert from the Cyrillic
5 [Yu] Al Aluminium
M [L] Be Beryllium
script, together with examples, used to describe the Eastern
P [R] B Boron steels is that devised by S. Brumovsky (priv. comm.) and is
V [F] V Vanadium reproduced in Table 9). The designation at the end of the
Bj [Vi] Bi Bismuth alloy type in Table 10 means ‘high purity clean steel’ whilst
B [V] W Tungsten ‘AA’ means ‘very high purity clean steel’ normally used in
Dm [Gl] Ga Gallium
Le [Kd] Cd Cadmium
the beltline region. The steel was teemed in vacuo into 100–
L [K] Co Cobalt 200 tonne ingots and forged. The chemical composition and
C [S] Si Silicon the steels’ heat treatment were chosen to ensure the required
Z [Sh] Mg Magnesium values of mechanical strength, ductility and toughness as
D [G] Mn Manganese well as satisfactory weldability. The composition of this
E [D] Cu Copper
M [M] Mo Molybdenum
steel also ensured an increased resistance against temper
H [N] Ni Nickel embrittlement during vessel fabrication, thermal ageing
B [B] Nb Niobium and irradiation embrittlement. The requirement for high
Q [P] Pr Praseodium strength and high toughness in vessels of these thicknesses
C [S] Sm Samarium was obtained by oil quenching from about 980⬚C–1000⬚C
E [E] Se Selenium
T [T] Ti Titanium
followed by tempering at about 680⬚C–700⬚C (Cf. WWER
U [U] C Carbon 1000 Q 910⬚C–930⬚C and, T 640⬚C–660⬚C).
Q [P] P Phosphorus Compositions of WWER steels together with guaranteed
X [Kh] Cr Chromium mechanical properties are from Ref. [20]. The base materi-
X [C] Zr Zirconium als for WWERs are listed in Table 10 while the weld mate-
rials are given in Table 11. The composition of the various
steels are given in Table 12 and the additional compositional
• The composition of steels and welds are different from requirements for the steels for core shells are given at the
those used in ‘Western’ PVs. end of Table 13. The guaranteed mechanical properties for
• Not all the pressure vessels were clad with stainless steel. the WWER steels are given in Table 14.
The earlier WWER440/230 PVs were unclad. In order to ensure the properties of heat affected zones
• All austenitic steels used for cladding, internals and during welding and resistance against hot and cold cracks
primary piping that are in contact with water coolant (as well as underclad cracks) it became necessary to provide
are stabilised. a high preheat temperature of 350⬚C–400⬚C for welding.
Table 10
Base materials for WWERs
V-230 V-213 V-320
Cylindrical rings for PV 15Kh2MFA 15Kh2MFAA 15Kh2NMFAA

Other parts of the vessel 15Kh2MFA 15Kh2MFA 15Kh2NMFA
Cover 25Kh2MFA 18Kh2MFA 15Kh2NMFA
Free flange 25Kh3MFA 25Kh2MFA —
Stud bolts and nuts 25Kh1MF 38KhN3MFA 38KhN3MFA
Table 11
Welding materials for WWERs
V-230 V-213 V-320
Automatic submerged arc-wire Sv-10KhMFT(U) Sv-15KhMFT(U) Sv-12Kh2N2MFA(A)

Automatic submerged arc-flux ⫹ AN-42(M) ⫹ AN-42(M) ⫹ FC-16(A)Sv-09Kh6NMTA-V1 ⫹ KF-30
Electroslag-wire Sv-13Kh2MFT Sv-13Kh2MFT Sv-16Kh2NMFTA
Electroslag-flux ⫹ OF-6 ⫹ OF-6 ⫹ OF6
Manual arc (repair) electrode N-3, N-6 N-3, N-6 RT-45A, RT45AA, RT-45B
Table 12
Composition of materials (wt%) for WWER PVs
Materials C Mn Si P S Cr Ni Mo V
15Kh2MFA 0.13 0.30 0.17 max max 2.50 max 0.60 0.25
0.18 0.60 0.37 0.025 0.025 3.00 0.40 0.80 0.35
18Kh2MFA 0.15 0.30 0.17 max max 2.50 max 0.60 0.25
0.21 0.60 0.37 0.025 0.025 3.00 0.40 0.80 0.35
25Kh3MFA 0.22 0.30 0.17 max max 2.80 max 0.60 0.25
0.25 0.60 0.37 0.025 0.025 3.30 0.40 0.80 0.35
15Kh2NMFA 0.13 0.30 0.17 max max 1.80 1.00 0.50 max
0.18 0.60 0.37 0.020 0.020 2.30 1.50 0.70 0.10
Sv-10KhMFT 0.04 0.60 0.20 max max 1.20 max 0.35 0.10
⫹ AN-42 0.12 1.30 0.60 0.042 0.035 1.80 0.30 0.70 0.35
Sv-10KhMFT 0.04 0.60 0.20 max max 1.20 max 0.35 0.10
⫹ AN-42M 0.12 1.30 0.60 0.012 0.015 1.80 0.30 0.70 0.35
Sv-12Kh2N2MA0.05 0.50 0.15 max max 1.40 1.20 0.45 —
⫹ FC-16 0.12 1.00 0.45 0.025 0.020 2.10 1.90 0.75 —
Sv-12Kh2N2MA0.05 0.50 0.15 max max 1.40 1.20 0.45 —
⫹ FC-16A 0.12 1.00 0.45 0.012 0.015 2.10 1.90 0.75 —
Sv-13Kh2MFT 0.11 0.40 0.17 max max 1.40 0.40 0.17
⫹ OF-6 0.16 0.70 0.35 0.030 0.030 2.50 0.80 0.35
Sv-09KhGNMTAA 0.04 0.45 0.15 1.20 1.0 0.40
⫹ KF30 or (NF-18M) 0.10 1.10 0.45 2.00 1.5 0.70
SA533B,Cl1 max 1.15 0.15 max max — 0.40 0.45 —
0.25 1.15 0.15 max max — 0.70 0.60 —
SA508,Cl3 0.15 1.20 0.15 max max — 0.40 0.45 —
0.25 1.50 0.35 0.025 0.025 — 0.80 0.60
Allowable impurity levels. Additional requirements for materials in core shells subjected to neutron irradiation:
P S Cu As Sb Sn P ⫹ Sb ⫹ Sn Co
15Kh2MFAA 0.012 0.015 0.08 0.010 0.005 0.005 0.015 0.02
15Kh2NMFAA 0.010 0.015 0.08 0.010 0.005 0.005 0.015 0.02
The development of the WWER 1000, the 1000 MW type), the increased nickel content increases the strength of
version of the WWER, led to a change in the requirements the ferrite without decreasing its toughness but does
for the pressure vessel materials. For example, the required increase the susceptibility to temper, thermal and irradiation
strength was increased and Tk (the equivalent of RTNDT) embrittlement with an accompanying weld reflecting the
decreased from 0⬚C to ⫺ 25⬚C. However, the irradiation altered base metal composition. Vanadium which had
conditions for the RPV became less severe — the irradia- been added to the earlier steels to increase resistance to
tion temperature increased to 290⬚C and the fluence thermal ageing, produce a fine grained tempered bainite
decreased to 6 × 10 23 n m ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV). As a result of which imparted strength, but was more difficult to weld
the increased strength and ductility requirements and a wide than higher nickel steels which required high preheat
ranging evaluation programme, 15Kh2MFA was replaced temperatures. Consequently, the higher nickel lower
with a high nickel alloy steel, 15Kh2NMFA (Cr–Ni–Mo–V vanadium steels were chosen for the WWER 1000s. As
Table 13
Guaranteed mechanical properties. Rp0.2 — 0.2% offset yield strength; Rm — ultimate tensile strength; A5 — % elongation; Z — % reduction in area on failure;
Tko — initial ductile–brittle transition temperature
Room temperature 350⬚C

Rp0.2 (MPa) Rm (Mpa) A5 (%) Z (%) Rp0.2 (MPa) Rm (MPa) A5 (%) Z (%) Tko (⬚C)
15Kh2MFA 431 539 14 50 392 490 14 50 0

SA weld metal 392 539 14 50 373 490 12 45 20
25Kh3MFA 628 736 12 50 590 638 12 45 —
15Kh2NMFA 490 608 15 55 441 539 14 50 ⫺ 10
15Kh2NMFA 490 608 15 55 441 539 14 50 ⫺ 25
SA weld metal 422 539 15 55 392 510 14 50 0
A533B,Cl1 345 551 18 — 285 — — — ⫺ 12
A508,Cl3 345 551 18 38 285 — — — ⫺ 12
Table 14 nite. The amount of retained austenite is usually 5%–15%.

Russian code [1] values for the irradiation embrittlement coefficient AF The retained austenite is located in martensite–austenite
Irradiation temperature Irradiation embrittlement
grains or between bainite laths forming a structure looking
(⬚C) coefficient AF similar to upper bainite. After quenching the content of
carbides is normally rather small or as in Russian
15Kh2MFA and 15Kh2NMFA steels practically no carbides
15Kh2MFA
Base metal 250, 270, 290 22, 18, 14
exist (i.e. those microstructures cannot be called upper or
Weld 250, 270 800 (P ⫹ 0.07Cu) ⫹ 8 lower bainite). A great difference between 15Kh2MFA steel
800(P ⫹ 0.07Cu) with all others is the large prior austenite grain size due to
the higher austenitising temperature of 1000⬚C. Its average
15Kh2MFA-A grain diameter is roughly twice that of the other RPV steels.
Base metal 270, 290 12, 9
Weld 270 15
Tempering transforms the microstructures to cell struc-
tures and the carbon which had been dissolved in the
15Kh2NMFA-A martensite and austenite precipitates as different types of
Base metal 290 23 carbides. The carbide structure of 15Kh2MFA differs from
Weld 290 20 the other RPV steels. There the carbides are smaller are
smaller and more finely distributed and are mostly vana-
dium rich special type carbides. In 15Kh2NMFA the carbide
will be seen later, the technology of these new specification
structure is rather close to Western RPV steels, where
steels progressed and vessels were built, but the nickel
carbides are mostly cementite in addition to rather fine
content, in practice, reached 1.5–2.0 wt%. Unfortunately
Mo2C-carbides.
the surveillance samples accommodated in the actual
Typical photomicrographs are shown in Figs. 8–14.
RPVs — to give advance information on irradiation effects
— were located in a steep neutron flux gradient region of
the reactor, and also the temperature in that surveillance
region was higher than the appropriate region of the RPV 7. Irradiation effects on eastern and western steels
itself so that the data gained is difficult to interpret and thus
will require further investigation. The existing data base of It has already been mentioned that fracture toughness is a
the actual materials used in practice is limited. temperature dependent mechanical property of materials. In
Many of the earlier WWER 440-230 PVs were unclad this section, the various methods of predicting irradiation
(approximately half the number). For the others, the vessels shift in transition temperature will be described for Eastern
were clad by automatic strip welding under a flux, with two and Western steels. Petrequin [9] has recently reviewed
layers. The first layer is an austenitic material these and other formulas which are used to predict irradia-
(Sv07Kh25N13) and the second layer is at least three tion embrittlement. In a drop weight test carried out at suffi-
beads thick of stabilised (with niobium) austenitic stainless ciently low temperatures, a specimen will break in a brittle
steel (Sv08Kh18N10G2B) which, in total, gives a cladding manner where a starter ‘crack’ will propagate by cleaving
thickness of about 8 mm. with a low energy of absorption for fracture rather than by
tearing in a ductile manner at a higher energy to fracture
which is observed at a slightly higher test temperature. A
6. Metallurgical structures common test is the Charpy V-notch (CVN) test and, by
usage, the ductile–brittle transition temperature (DBTT or
(This Chapter 6 and photo micrographs were provided by TNDT) is defined as the temperature where the energy
Reijo Pelli from VTT, Finland.) absorbed for fracture is 41 J (30 ft lb). The shift in DBTT
The microstructures [21–23] of all Eastern and Western (or TNDT) on irradiation is sometimes called DDBTT or DTT.
reactor pressure base materials can be characterised as being The reference temperature for nil ductility RTNDT for irra-
mainly bainitic. After quenching the dominant part of the diation monitoring programmes is sometimes taken as the
microstructure consists of granular bainite. Depending on greater of TNDT or the temperature at which the CVN speci-
alloying intensity and wall thickness and depth in the wall, mens expand 35 mils (0.89 mm) laterally during testing,
besides bainite the structure contains various amounts of less 60⬚F and also at ⫹ ⬎ 50 ft lb (68 J) at RTNDT ⫹
martensite and possibly pro-eutectoid ferrite. In 60⬚F (US units). Below RTNDT cracks above a particular
15Kh2MFA steel the microstructural differences between size and of a particular orientation and location in the
surface and mid-thickness are smaller than in the other steel together with the application of a sufficient load
RPV steels due to relatively slower cooling due to oil could possibly fracture the vessel in a brittle cleavage
quenching. manner. Care is therefore taken to specify minimum pres-
Granular bainite is a mixture of various constituents i.e. surisation temperatures for the RPVs (usually 33⬚C–50⬚C
lathed and massive ferrite areas with high dislocation above the NDT) to prevent this possibility. TNDT can vary
density, high carbon twinned martensite and retained auste- widely in the PVs because of differences in composition,
Fig. 8. Optical micrograph of tempered SA 533B steel (mag. × 250).
7.1. WWERS
In WWERS, neutron irradiation effects on mechanical

properties are characterised by a shift of ‘critical tempera-
ture of brittleness’, Tk0, which is measured on Charpy-V
specimens. It has been experimentally shown to be roughly
equal to RTNDT i.e. for 15Kh2MFA, 15Kh2NMFA and
ASTM A533B steels:
DT RTNDT ⫺ Tk ^10⬚C
The various damaging irradiation mechanisms which can
contribute to the change in Tk are given in the equation
below:
Tk Tk0 ⫹ DTF ⫹ DTT ⫹ DTN
where, Tk — critical temperature of brittleness; Tk0 —
Fig. 9. Optical micrograph of tempered 15Kh2MFA steel (mag. on print). initial critical temperature of brittleness; DTF** — shift
due to irradiation; DTT — shift due to thermal ageing;
DTN — shift due to cyclic damage for regions of high stress,
segregation of elements during casting or variation in but ⬍ 20⬚C for the core region of the PV.
composition during welding and manufacture. It is now Tk0 is usually determined from CVN tests. Exceptionally,
thought that the data gained from Charpy tests is too empiri- for old RPCVs of the V230 types it can be calculated from
cal and focuses on brittle failure aspects. Other testing and the composition of the steel as given in the equation below.
interpretations can serve the sophisticated integrity analyses It has been stressed that this is a highly empirical formula
that can now be carried out with other mechanical tests. having little metallurgical basis. Measured and calculated
While much existing data in national databases derives values for different reactors are given in Table 15 and a
from the Charpy test, developments in testing and correla- comparison between calculated and measured values is
tion of existing Charpy data with other mechanical test given in Fig. 15. The following formula was obtained for
results are a feature of some major international 15Kh2MFA steels.
programmes under the aegis of AMES 1 and the IAEA ⴱ
Tk0 101:6 ⫺ 171Mn:Mo ⫹ 151:8Mn:V ⫹ 8224Si:P
IWG-LMNPP. 2
⫺ 42139S:P ⫺ 2726P ⫺ 163Si:Mo
This transition shift due to irradiation can be expressed

1
(within the limits of fluence) as follows:
Contact Dr U von Estorff for further information at IAM/JRC, Petten,
The Netherlands. DTF AF × F × 10⫺22 0:33
2
Contact Mr V Lyssakov for further information at the Division of
Nuclear Power, IAEA, 15 Wagramerstrasse, Vienna, Austria. where, AF is the irradiation embrittlement coefficient (C),
Fig. 10. Optical micrograph of quenched 15Kh2NMFA steel (mag. × 200).
Fig. 11. Electron microscope image of tempered SA 533B steel (mag. × 20 000).
Fig. 12. Transmission electron microscope image of tempered 15Kh2MFA Fig. 13. Transmission electron microscope image of tempered
steel (mag. on print). 15Kh2NMFA steel (mag. × 30 000).
Fig. 14. Comparison between measured and calculated values of Tk0 for WWER 440 welds. These measurements were on ‘laboratory samples’ and not from
real RPVs.
determined as a upper bound value, and F is the fast neutron of relating sample position to the actual composition
fluence, n m ⫺2 (E ⬎ 0.5 MeV). becomes problematical. For clad vessels where there are
Values for this irradiation embrittlement coefficient are no archive or surveillance samples, hardness testing on the
given in the appropriate Russian code and these are outside of the vessel has been resorted to, on the assumption
summarised in Table 14. that it is the phenomenon of hardening embrittlement that is
Some concern has been expressed that the formula for the being pursued.
calculation of Tk0 may not be reliable because of its sensi- For the WWER 1000 materials there is a shortage of
tivity to small changes in input data produce large changes reactor surveillance data to provide the basis for the produc-
in the predicted value. For the interim an upper bound tion of an empirical equation to predict the irradiation of
experimentally justified value (about 60⬚C) should be ‘actual’ reactor pressure vessel steels. As noted earlier (see
used. However, others support the use of the formula as Ref. [18], p. 18) since the welds contain a very high nickel
being a pragmatic solution for most cases. Evaluations are content, there could be a marked irradiation sensitivity.
proceeding. Such a sensitivity to high nickel has been observed in earlier
This feature of unirradiated information is important experiments [24–26]. The problem appears to have been
because there is a lack of unirradiated data or ‘archive mate- complicated by the positioning of the specimens in surveil-
rials’ for testing. The situation is then complicated further lance chains in a steep neutron flux gradient and also close
because there are no surveillance samples included in the to the outlet coolant temperature, which could reduce the
pressure vessel for irradiation with the older pressure irradiation effect so the results are difficult to interpret.
vessels, in order to give advance knowledge of the current However, an empirical equation to describe the shift in
mechanical properties. In unclad vessels operators have transition temperature with neutron fluence was established
resorted to taking ‘boat’ samples or ‘scalpings’ from the [27] and, like the WWER 440 equation, is dependant on the
inside of the pressure vessel which has allowed chemical copper and phosphorus content, but not yet on nickel
analyses and mechanical tests to be carried out on, albeit content. Where:
sub-standard sized, specimens. The relationship of the
results from these tests to full size tests has to be established. DT 230Cu ⫹ 10P ⫹ 20:f0:33
Also, to establish the chemical composition of the steels
sometimes scrapings have been taken but, again the problem [although it has been pointed out (R. Pelli, priv. comm.) that
Table 15 Where: f is the fluence in units of 10 19 n cm ⫺2 (E ⬎

Comparison between measured, calculated and estimated values of Tk0 for 1 MeV); FF is the fluence factor; and CF is the chemistry
WWER 440 RPV weld 4
factor from the copper and nickel content and can be
Plant Tk0 from tests Tk0 from Tk0 from tests on derived from the surveillance results or from Tables in
calculation annealed the guide.
irradiated samples Tables 16–23 gives, as an example, a comparison of
Kola — ⫹30 — predicted transition shift with actual data from Westing-
Kola 2 — ⫹60 — house PWR surveillance samples of base materials and
Kola 3 ⫹15 ⫹16 — welds as a function of neutron fluence deriving from steels
Kola 4 ⫹10 ⫹13 — and welds produced up to the late 1970s, after Mager [28].
Novovoronezh 3 — ⫹5 ⫹55
This comparison is shown graphically in Fig. 16. The
Novovoronezh 4 — ⫹5 ⫹15
Kozloduy 1 — ⫹52 ⫹54 USNRC Reg guide Rev.2 has been used as this is the current
Kozloduy 2 — ⫹10 ⫹50 version of the guide. It can be seen that the comparison has a
Kozloduy 3 ⫹50 ⫹49 — variation of ⬃ ^ 50⬚C and there does not appear to be a
Kozloduy 4 ⫹5 ⫹14 — systematic variation in the scatter.
Armenia 1 ⫹22 ⫹20 —
In addition an evaluation of US RPVs on an individual
Armenia 2 ⫹26 ⫹27 —
Bohunice 1 ⫹2 0 — basis has been conducted and published. Two examples are
Bohunice 2 ⫹50 ⫹49 — given in Fig. 15.
Bohunice 3 0 ⫹38 — Similarly data has been published [29] on the change in
Bohunice 4 ⫺4 ⫺1 — mechanical properties for Babcock and Wilcox weld
Dukovany 1 ⫹18 ⫹18 —
surveillance specimens from RPVs where the flux used
Dukovany 2 ⫺5 ⫺1 —
Dukovany 3 ⫺8 ⫹10 — for welding was Linde 80. These data are shown in
Dukovany 4 ⫺8 ⫹10 — Table 24.
Greifswald 1 — ⫹46 ⫹20
Greifswald 2 — ⫹4 —
8. Comparison of irradiation behaviour of East and West
Greifswald 5 ⫺5 ⫺1 — steels
Greifswald 6 ⫹5 ⫹18 —
Loviisa 1 ⫹25 ⫹31 — When comparing one reactor pressure vessel steel with
Loviisa 2 ⫹8 ⫹26 — another the trend in the degradation of mechanical proper-
Mochovce 1 ⫺10 ⫺10 —
ties during neutron irradiation there is likely to be similarity.
Mochovce 2 ⫺10 ⫺10 —
Paks 1 ⫹23 ⫹9 — This is not surprising. The many factors that have been
Paks 2 ⫹5 ⫹23 — identified as contributing to the degradation of mechanical
Paks 3 ⫺4 ⫺1 — properties of steels are common to empirical equations to a
Paks 4 ⫺13 ⫹5 — greater or lesser extent. Hence the unsurprising conclusion
Rovno 1 0 ⫹17 —
that they all describe the same effect, but over a particular
Rovno 2 ⫹15 ⫹13 —
range of interest and within the constraints of the extent and
range of the data base and the in-built conservatisms (or lack
of conservatism) upon which each equation is based. There-
this formula is based on an EOL fluence of 6.4 × 10 23 n m ⫺2, fore, each different trend equation has some peculiarities
E ⬎ 0.5 MeV). and shortcomings. The trend equations tend to be nationa-
listically based, but the supporting data may be insufficient
or inadequate. Because the purpose of this study is to
7.2. US PWRs
compare Eastern and Western steels, the main US and
The US Nuclear Regulatory Guide 1.99 Revision 2 [2] Russian empirical trend equations are used to describe and
states that: quantify irradiation degradation from both viewpoints. It
will show that, because the trend equations are different
RTNDT initial RTNDT ⫹ DRTNDT ⫹ margin — because of the historical aspects of compositions in the
Where: RTNDT is the reference temperature for choice of steels and their manufacture into pressure vessels
unirradiated material; DRTNDT is the increase in this in the different countries — that this approach does not
temperature as a result of irradiation; and margin is the satisfactorily and unequivocally allow a definitive compar-
quantity to be added to be conservative. ison of the steels. A large number of these empirical equa-
The value of DRTNDT should be calculated by means of tions have been comprehensively compared recently by
the following equation: Petrequin [9]. An example of one limitation is that the
USNRC regulatory guide should not be used at neutron
DRTNDT CFf 0:28⫺0:10logf CFFF fluences above ⬇ 4 × 10 19 n cm ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV) because
Fig. 15. Two examples of specific RPV evaluations chosen from many in Report NUREG 1511.
the equation is not supported with data above this fluence. 8.1. Irradiation effects
The Russian WWER-440 steels and welds are operated to
higher neutron exposures because the reactor has a At the outset it is assumed that any difference in the
smaller water gap than the US design (see Fig. 6), because irradiation shift predicted by different equations is more of
the diameter ‘allowed’ the manufactured pressure vessels a reflection of the differences in the predictive guides and
to be transported by rail (see Section 5.4). Therefore, their particular unique databases than in any other funda-
the code and guide predictions should not be compared mental difference. Also, because the main area of interest in
at these higher fluence levels. The lifetime neutron pressure vessel integrity assessment are the welds (for the
fluence varies with different reactor types as shown in reasons given in the preamble to this report) then it is this
Table 25. material upon which the comparison will be made. There
Table 16
Design information for Westinghouse reactor vessel base material
Plant Vessel supplier a Shell material Chemistry Date of operation

P Cu Ni Mn
San Onofre Unit 1 CE A302B 0.014 0.18 ⬍ 0.15 1.36 1/1968

Point Beach Unit 1 B&W A302B 0.014 0.11 ⬍ 0.15 1.37 12/1970
Robert E. Ginna B&W A508CL2 0.010 0.05 0.69 0.66 3/1970
North Anna Unit 1 RDM A508CL2 0.010 0.15 0.84 0.68 6/1978
Byron Unit 1 B&W A508CL2 0.010 0.05 0.73 0.69 6/1985
Catawba Unit 1 RDM A508CL2 0.014 0.10 0.84 0.73 4/1985
Prairie Island Unit 1 CL A508CL3 0.012 0.14 0.68 1.48 12/1973
Braidwood Unit 1 B&W A508CL3 0.007 0.03 0.73 1.33 3/1988
Donald C. Cook Unit 1 CE A533BCL1 0.012 0.14 0.68 1.48 8/1975

Salem Unit 2 CE A533BCL1 0.011 0.10 0.60 1.37 10/1981
Donald C. Cook Unit 2 CB&I A533BCL1 0.013 0.14 0.58 1.29 7/1978
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 CB&I A533BCL1 0.009 0.10 0.51 1.30 1/1984
a
CE, Combustion Engineering; B&W, Babcock and Wilcox; RDM, Rotterdam Ship Yard; CL, Creusot-Loire; CB&I, Chicago Bridge and Iron.
Table 17
Design information for Westinghouse reactor vessel weld material
Plant Vessel supplier a Type of flux Chemistry

P Cu Ni
San Onofre Unit 1 CE N.A. 0.017 0.19 ⬍ 0.15

Point Beach Unit 1 B&W Linde 80 0.019 0.018 0.57
Robert E. Ginna B&W Linde 80 0.012 0.23 0.56
North Anna Unit 1 RDM SMIT 89 0.020 0.086 0.11
Byron Unit 1 B&W Linde 80 0.011 0.026 0.71
Catawba Unit 1 RDM LW 320 0.015 0.066 0.71
Prairie Island Unit 1 CL UM89 0.017 0.13 0.09
Braidwood Unit 1 B&W Linde 80 0.015 0.04 0.67
Donald C. Cook Unit 1 CE Linde 1092 0.023 0.27 0.74
Salem Unit 2 CE Linde 1092 0.017 0.28 0.71
Donald C. Cook Unit 2 CB&I Linde 124 0.022 0.055 0.97
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 CB&I Linde 124 0.013 0.05 0.91
a
CE, Combustion Engineering; B&W, Babcock and Wilcox; RDM, Rotterdam Ship Yard; CL, Creusot-Loire; CB&I, Chicago Bridge and Iron; N.A., not
available.
Table 18
Increase in 41-J transition temperature for reactor pressure vessel base material
Plant Shell material Fluence, 10 19 n cm ⫺2 41-J increase (⬚C) Fluence, 10 19 n cm ⫺2 41-J increase
San Onofre Unit 1 A302B — — — —

Point Beach Unit 1 A302B — — 0.54 50
Robert E. Ginna A508 Cl 2 — — 0.70 0
North Anna Unit 1 A508 Cl 2 0.25 22 0.83 53
Byron Unit 1 A508 Cl 2 0.35 0 — —
Catawba Unit 1 A508 Cl 2 0.31 24 — —
Prairie Island Unit 1 A508 Cl 3 — — 0.55 13
Braidwood Unit 1 A508 Cl 3 0.38 0 — —
Donald C. Cook Unit 1 A533B Cl 1 0.18 39 0.62 61
Salem Unit 2 A533B Cl 1 0.28 39 0.57 53
Donald C. Cook Unit 2 A533B Cl 1 — — — —
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 A533B Cl 1 — — 0.64 29
are of course exceptions to these. Welds are not always the comparable in the usual empirical way. The many common
limiting feature. The irradiation behaviour of some plates, factors which are used to describe the cause of change in
because of their composition, provide some of the limita- mechanical properties, using the shift in Charpy transition
tions in some of the older plants, but, nevertheless, even in temperature as an example, can be simply shown in the
those cases the irradiation response is still predicted and following way for the components of matrix hardening
Table 19
Increase in 41-J transition temperature for reactor pressure vessel base material
Plant Shell material Fluence 10 19 n cm ⫺2 41-J increase (⬚C) Fluence 10 19 n cm ⫺2 41-J increase (⬚C)
San Onofre Unit 1 A302B 1.20 56 5.1 56

Point Beach Unit 1 A302B — — 2.1 58
Robert E. Ginna A508 Cl 2 1.01 0 1.75 0
North Anna Unit 1 A508 Cl 2 — — — —
Byron Unit 1 A508 Cl 2 — — — —
Catawba Unit 1 A508 Cl 2 — — — —
Prairie Island Unit 1 A508 Cl 3 1.25 24 4.0 44
Braidwood Unit 1 A508 Cl 3 — — — —
Donald C. Cook Unit 1 A533B Cl 1 — — 1.9 64
Salem Unit 2 A533B Cl 1 — — — —
Donald C. Cook Unit 2 A533B Cl 1 1.05 57 — —
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 A533B Cl 1 1.47 40 — —
Table 20
Increase in 41-J transition temperature for reactor pressure vessel weld metal
Plant Type of flux Fluence, 10 19 n/cm 2 41-J increase ⬚C Fluence, 10 19 n/cm 2 41-J increase ⬚C
a
San Onofre Unit 1 N.A. — — — —
Point Beach Unit 1 Linde 80 — — 0.54 61
Robert E. Ginna Linde 80 — — 0.70 78
North Anna Unit 1 SMIT 89 0.25 43 0.83 42
Byron Unit 1 Linde 80 0.35 12 — —
Catawba Unit 1 LW 320 0.31 33 — —
Prairie Island Unit 1 UM 89 — — 0.55 18
Braidwood Unit 1 Linde 80 0.38 0 — —
Donald C. Cook Unit 1 Linde 1092 0.18 44 0.62 92
Salem Unit 2 Linde 1092 0.28 86 0.57 106
Donald C. Cook Unit 2 Linde 124 — — 0.85 39
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 Linde 124 — — 0.64 17
a
N.A., not available.
Table 21
Increase in 41-J transition temperature for reactor pressure vessel weld metal
Plant Type of flux Fluence, 10 19 n cm ⫺2 41-J increase (⬚C) Fluence, 10 19 n cm ⫺2 41-J increase
San Onofre Unit 1 N.A. a 1.20 44 5.1 81

Point Beach Unit 1 Linde 80 — — 2.1 92
Robert E. Ginna Linde 80 1.01 92 1.75 83
North Anna Unit 1 SMIT 89 — — — —
Byron Unit 1 Linde 80 — — — —
Catawba Unit 1 LW 320 — — — —
Prairie Island Unit 1 UM 89 1.25 32 4.0 72
Braidwood Unit 1 Linde 80 — — — —
Donald C. Cook Unit 1 Linde 1092 1.06 111 1.88 114
Salem Unit 2 Linde 1092 — — — —
Donald C. Cook Unit 2 Linde 124 — — — —
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 Linde 124 1.47 42 — —
a
N.A., not available.
Table 22
Comparison of the shifts predicted by RG 1.99 equations, and measured values for base material
Plant Fluence, n cm ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV) DRTNDT shift (⬚C)

DTT actual RG 1.99.1 RG 1.99.2
San Onofre Unit 1 1.2 × 10 19

56 103 51
5.1 × 10 19 56 214 68
Point Beach Unit 2 5.4 × 10 18 50 20 9
2.1 × 10 19 58 40 13
Robert E. Ginna 7.0 × 10 18 0 13 26
1.01 × 10 19 0 28 28
1.75 × 10 19 0 37 33
North Anna Unit 1 2.5 × 10 18 22 14 18
8.3 × 10 18 53 25 17
Byron Unit 1 3.5 × 10 18 0 17 20
Catawba Unit 1 3.1 × 10 18 24 28 25
Prairie Island Unit 1 5.5 × 10 18 13 48 47
1.25 × 10 19 24 74 60
4.03 × 10 19 44 134 77
Braidwood Unit 1 3.8 × 10 18 0 14 21
Donald C. Cook Unit 1 1.8 × 10 18 39 38 66
6.2 × 10 18 61 52 49
1.06 × 10 19 64 69 58
1.9 × 10 19 64 165 120
Salem Unit 2 2.8 × 10 18 39 22 23
5.7 × 10 18 53 57 55
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 6.4 × 10 18 29 29 32
1.47 × 10 19 40 43 39
Table 23
Comparison of the shifts predicted by RG1.99 equations, and measured values for weld material
Plant Fluence, n cm ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV) DRTNDT shift (⬚C)

DTT actual RG 1.99.1 RG 1.99.2
San Onofre Unit 1 1.20 × 10 19

44 118 56
5.14 × 10 19 81 234 75
Point Beach Unit 2 5.4 × 10 18 61 96 82

2.1 × 10 19 92 188 118
Robert E. Ginna 7.0 × 10 18 78 98 82
1.01 × 10 19 92 117 91
1.75 × 10 19 83 154 104
North Anna Unit 1 2.5 × 10 18 43 29 17
8.3 × 10 18 42 53 26
Byron Unit 1 3.5 × 10 18 12 18 42
Catawba Unit 1 3.1 × 10 18 33 23 41
Prairie Island Unit 1 5.5 × 10 18 18 56 31
1.25 × 10 19 32 56 39
4.03 × 10 19 72 151 50
Braidwood Unit 1 3.8 × 10 18 0 26 43
6.2 × 10 18 92 133 99
1.06 × 10 19 111 174 117
1.9 × 10 19 114 232 134
Salem Unit 2 2.8 × 10 18 86 82 73
5.7 × 10 18 106 119 96
Virgil C. Summer Unit 1 6.4 × 10 18 17 29 25
1.47 × 10 19 42 43 66
(DRTmatrix), precipitate hardening (DRTppt) and segregation caused by:

effects (DRTseg) causing the change in mechanical
• defect production from displacement cascades (vacan-
properties:
cies, interstitials, dislocation loops, vacancy clusters,
DRTNDT DRTmatrix ⫹ DRTppt ⫹ DRTseg vacancy-interstitial pairs);
point defect clusters copper 3 phosphorous • formation of ultrafine copper rich precipitates;
microvoids Cu ⫹ Ni, Mn etc.
dislocation loops or phosphorous
• ultrafine phosphide formation;
clusters (stabilised by (as phosphides) • ultrafine carbide formation;
nitrogen) etc. • temper embrittlement.
carbon irradiation enhanced
saturation They generally considered that the first two processes were
fluence dependence saturation effects the most important for irradiation embrittlement.
nitrogen effects (low fluence rate effects Four possible component parts of the trend equations to
dose, low temperature) empirically describe irradiation effects include the copper,
fluence rate effect
etc.
phosphorus, nickel content and neutron fluence. The
Russian code includes copper and phosphorus, but the
Cubulk Cuheat ⫹ Cuppt ⫹ CuCu1:8S ⫹ Cumatrix
Pavinich et al. [31] describe the factors causing degrada-

tion in mechanical properties on neutron irradiation as being
3
Remember that in empirical equations copper a major impurity element
is treated as ‘bulk’ or total copper content (Cubulk). In reality copper is
present in steels in many forms, [30] as shown in the equation below, but
it is the copper in solid solution (metastable) in the unirradiated condition
(Cumatrix) which is the best descriptor of the role of copper as a degradation
agent during irradiation. The ratio of copper in solution to total copper is not
constant. Studies, Codes and Guides do not distinguish between ‘total
copper’ from chemical analyses and ‘matrix copper’ — which will be Fig. 16. Graph of the difference between actual transition temperature shift
lower, but not in a fixed ratio. Copper can be present as a compound and that predicted by the USNRC Guide 1.99 Rev. 2 as a function of
Digenite-Cu1.8S, copper precipitated during irradiation, Cuppt, or as copper neutron fluence. This is for Westinghouse RPVs as given in Tables 16–
precipitated during heat treatment, Cuheat. 23. Derived from data after Mager [28].
Table 24
Babcock and Wilcox welds Using LINDE 80 flux — surveillance data base [29]
Plant Capsule Weld metal Ni wt.% Cu wt.% Unirr. USE Irr. temp, Fluence DRTNDT(⬚F) DTLE DFATT Dsy
(ft lb) (⬚F) [E ⬎ 1 MeV] (⬚F)
10 19 n cm ⫺2
Oconee 1 E WF-112 0.59 0.32 64 556 0.150 78 112 97 108

Oconee 1 A 0.895 191 184 161 126
Oconee 1 C 0.986 185 186 108 168
Oconee 2 C WF-209-1A 0.58 0.36 67 556 0.102 45 137 26 52
Oconee 2 A 0.337 114 67 49 113
Oconee 2 E 1.210 179 236 73 139
Oconee 3 A WF-209-1B 0.58 0.30 66 556 0.081 48 67 41 30
Oconee 3 B 0.312 64 63 59 108
Oconee 3 D 1.450 140 158 102 159
TMI 1 E WP-25 0.66 0.33 81 556 0.107 124 199 57 92
TMI 1 C 0.866 203 189 109 148
TMI 2 C WF-182-1 0.63 0.28 — 556 0.168 117 - - 34
TMI 2 E 0.174 99 - - 74
Arkansas 1 E WF-193A 0.59 0.28 73 556 0.073 105 122 77 59
Arkansas 1 A 1.030 151 136 122 114
Arkansas 1 C 1.460 185 183 - 111
Rancho Seco B WF-193B 0.59 0.27 68 556 0.399 99 131 104 134
Rancho Seco D 0.660 152 174 96 132
Rancho Seco F 1.420 166 176 116 113
Davis-Besse F WF-182-1 0.63 0.21 70 556 0.196 127 101 83 85
Davis-Besse B 0.592 125 148 89 105
Davis-Besse D 0.962 150 144 106 118
Davis-Besse A 1.290 175 192 119 128
Crystal River C1 WF-25 0.70 0.35 73 556 0.779 214 222 178 148
Crystal River C1 WF-67 0.60 0.22 72 556 0.609 160 73 143 52
Crystal River C1 SA-1585 0.59 0.21 77 556 0.510 148 172 171 92
Davis-Besse D1 WF-70 0.59 0.42 56 556 0.663 135 170 88 114
Davis-Besse D1 WF-112 0.59 0.32 79 556 0.821 204 98 135 171
Davis-Besse D1 SA-1135 0.59 0.27 76 556 1.030 142 190 132 134
Pt. Beach 1 V SA-1263 0.57 0.21 65 542 0.620 110 114 88 122
Pt. Beach 1 S 0.758 165 210 157 -
Pt. Beach 1 R 2.100 165 202 145 172
Pt. Beach 1 T 2.110 175 236 130 143
Pt. Beach 2 V WF-193C 0.59 0.25 66 542 0.614 165 147 134 122
Pt. Beach 2 T 0.836 150 188 145 -
Pt. Beach 2 R 2.150 235 256 157 161
Pt. Beach 2 S 3.470 231 249 195 172
R.E. Ginna V SA-1036 0.56 0.23 80 545 0.653 140 — - 151
R.E. Ginna R 1.020 165 162 171 140
R.E. Ginna T 1.780 150 250 130 153
Turkey Pt 3 T SA-1101 0.54 0.26 66 546 0.710 164 218 194 151
Turkey Pt 3 V 1.230 178 201 193 99
Turkey Pt 4 T SA-1094 0.60 0.30 68 546 0.754 224 245 202 151
Zion 1 T WF-209-1D 0.57 0.35 64 529 0.253 112 112 109 93
Zion 1 U 0.849 199 222 162 74
Zion 1 X 1.260 199 222 213 83
Zion 1 Y 1.560 205 239 156 141
Zion 2 U WF-209-1E 0.57 0.35 68 529 0.257 145 146 125 129
Zion 2 T 0.804 191 200 177 123
Zion 2 Y 1.480 231 257 239 125
Surry 1 T SA-1526 0.70 0.35 70 543 0.286 167 162 133 139
Surry 1 V 1.940 240 312 148 145
Braidwood 1 U WF-562 0.65 0.03 70 558 0.379 10 - - -
Braidwood 2 U WF-562 0.65 0.03 71 558 0.391 0 - - 12
Byron 1 U WF-336 0.46 0.03 74 558 0.350 0 - - -
Byron 2 U WF-447 0.62 0.05 67 558 0.396 0 - - 13
Fig. 17. A diagram of transition temperature shift plotted against (%P ⫹ 0.1%Cu), after Amaev et al. [32] showinq a transition in the dominant role of
phosphorus in irradiation embrittlement at a particular concentration and on specimens irradiated to a particular fluence (1.1 × 10 20 n cm ⫺2, E ⬎ 0.5 MeV) at
270⬚C in the Armenia NPP Unit 2.
Table 25
Lifetime fluence for Eastern and Western RPVs 8.2. Phosphorus, copper and nickel
Reactor type Flux Lifetime a fluence No irradiation sensitivity to phosphorus is observed in the
(n m ⫺2 s ⫺1) (n m ⫺2)
supporting database for USNRC Reg. Guide Rev. 2 for
(E ⬎ 1 MeV) (E ⬎ 1 MeV)
embrittlement in US steels. This feature is ascribed to the
WWER-440 core weld 1.2 × 10 15 1.1 × 10 24 fact that the phosphorus content is low ( ⬍ 0.01–0.02 wt%)
WWER-440 max 1.5 × 10 15 1.6 × 10 24 and in real materials the effect of phosphorus content on
WWER-1000 3.4 × 10 14 3.7 × 10 23
irradiation sensitisation is marginal, and its effect only
PWR (W) 4 × 10 14 4 × 10 23
PWR (B&W) 1.2 × 10 14 1.2 × 10 23 observed at levels ⬎ ⬃ 0.025 wt%. This distinction in
phosphorus concentration and its role is important because
a
Lifetime for WWERs 40 full power years (EFPY) which is equivalent it is an essential difference between East and West steels.
to PWRs which are designed to operate for 32 effective FPY. This particular observation raises other fundamental ques-
tions which may need to be addressed further. (This
current USNRC guide [2] includes copper and nickel — mechanism of embrittlement should not be confused with
while the earlier version (Revision 1) included copper and another phosphorus embrittlement phenomena — that of
phosphorus. Neither of the current code and guide includes temper embrittlement or, as it is sometimes called reverse
the three elements together in one equation and so compar- temper embrittlement where phosphorus precipitates on
ison becomes difficult. However, this approach can be grain boundaries). This distinct phenomenon is a hardening
addressed by considering ‘real’ materials, that is, by embrittlement and invokes a mechanism which is analogous
comparing the code and guide predictions for welds of a to the behaviour of copper — where the phosphorus is
known composition used in Eastern and Western reactor thought to precipitate as phosphides within the grains.
pressure vessels. Amayev et al. [32], amongst other matters, commented
Table 26
Results after Hawthorne [35] showing that specimens having a relatively high phosphorus content showed a higher shift which was greater than that predicted
by the USNRC Reg. Guide 1.99.1 Rev. 2
Material Composition Fluence [ × 10 19 (E ⬎ 1 MeV)] 41J temperature increase

Cu Ni P CF Actual Projected a Difference
Plate code Y1 0.24 0.62 0.008 173.9 3.31 102 127 ⫺ 25

Plate code Y9 0.24 0.19 0.026 119.9 3.33 117 88 ⫹ 29
Weld code TW 0.30 1.00 0.015 257.0 3.33 142 188 ⫺ 46
a
USNRC Reg. Guide 1.99 (Rev. 2) prediction.
Fig. 18. Shift in transition temperature shift equations for three different levels of copper. After Williams et al. [38].
Fig. 18. (continued)
on the role of phosphorus in embrittlement processes, where started becoming significant in terms of irradiation effects at
they drew attention to the fact that in some references the about 0.02 wt%. At higher levels in the phosphorus was
mechanism has been likened to reverse temper embrittle- more dominant than copper. In US steels Hawthorne [35]
ment on long term thermal exposure of materials at 500⬚C. found that specimens containing 0.026 wt% phosphorus
However, they drew attention to other studies [33] where it gave a transition shift greater than that predicted by the
was concluded that the irradiation of a Russian steel and Reg. Guide 1.99.1 Rev. 2 (unconservative) while specimens
associated welds at temperatures above 300⬚C, grain bound- containing ‘normal’ concentrations of phosphorus gave
ary segregation occurred — while at lower temperature ‘conservative’ results.
irradiations (about 80⬚C) segregation occurs on damaged This feature raises a number of issues which require
regions inside grains. They also report on their thermal resolution:
annealing studies on irradiated materials at 460⬚C resulted
in nearly complete recovery of the transition temperature 1. What are the precise controlling parameters for deter-
shift and not in reverse temper embrittlement. Therefore, mining whether copper or phosphorus is the dominant
they conclude that, for WWER vessel materials at their sensitisation element and thereby defining the correct
irradiation temperature of 250⬚C–270⬚C the most likely description of irradiation embrittlement? (P and Cu
effect of irradiation is the interaction of phosphorus directly levels, other elements, irradiation temperatures, fluence).
with radiation defects and dislocations. 2. Are the various guides and codes being used correctly
McElroy et al. [34] recently discussed the role of phos- even within the limits of their supporting databases or
phorous in temper embrittlement and irradiation induced does the treatment ‘smooth’ the resulting fit to the data-
segregation and its implication for post irradiation anneal- base when there may not be a mechanistic support (e.g. at
ing. They specifically drew attention to the behaviour of the either below or above ⬃ 0.02 wt% P.).
heat affected zones of welds subjected to the particular 3. What is the phosphorus embrittling mechanism? What
annealing times and temperatures. are the transition parameters for phosphorus to cause
The two examples (Fig. 17 and Table 26) show that for temper embrittlement from a lower irradiation
the Russian steels Amaev et al. [32] found that phosphorus temperature?
Additionally, low irradiation temperatures and high neutron flux and the neutron energy spectrum could be
neutron flux are thought to favour defect production while different, is a ‘readover’ of the data to the case being
higher temperatures and lower fluxes favour age hardening considered a valid exercise, is there an adequate data base,
(copper rich precipitate formation) mechanisms. Copper is and, is the usually simple trend equation adequate and
also thought to increase the irradiation hardening sensitivity appropriate for use, e.g. what is the basis of the formulation?
by increasing the density and size of radiation defects and For example, the USNRC guide is based on data obtained at
because of radiation enhanced diffusion the radiation a fluence generally below 3 × 10 23 n m ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV) with
induced precipitation rate is enhanced. The comparatively only a couple of data points up to 4 × 10 23 n m ⫺2 — so to
lower temperatures of the WWERPV may, therefore, estimate results at a higher fluence than this is not very
support the view that mechanisms other than copper may meaningful — it requires extrapolation outside the data-
predominate. base.
It is well known that the presence of nickel enhances the Copper, phosphorus and nickel are described as deleter-
degradation due to copper [25–27]. The mechanism under- ious elements. In some papers these are termed ‘residual’
lying this effect is not known but nickel is associated with elements. However, residual elements are usually those
copper rich clusters and is thought to stabilise them as well elements which remain from the iron and steelmaking
as microvoids. process and usually from the original ores — like some of
It seems more than reasonable to use the working hypoth- the phosphorus (which also derives from the welding fluxes)
esis that the irradiation damage produced by neutrons is by and some of the total copper. Phosphorus varies in steels.
the disruption of the iron lattice. The development of the US steels tend to have phosphorus contents ⬍ 0.024 wt%
degraded microstructure is dependant on some of the resi- and the irradiation data shows little sensitivity to phos-
dual and added elements, in particular, the copper, phosphorus at these levels. However, the phosphorus levels in
phorus and nickel content. It is the interaction of this Russian steels and welds are higher (up to 0.05 wt%) and
defected microstructure with strain produced dislocations, demonstrate a marked sensitivity to irradiation. French and
moved and generated during post irradiation mechanical Japanese data shows a similar sensitivity. Much of the
testing, that produces the manifestation of degradation. It copper in older pressure vessel base materials came from
is therefore the inevitable conclusion from a consideration the deliberate addition of copper looms from automobiles
of this working hypothesis that the behaviour of Eastern and which were part of the scrap infrastructure in the making of
Western steels and welds should be the same if the deleter- the steel. Copper was also added to welds where the
ious element concentration, the dislocation density, heat electrodes were coated with copper, to prevent rusting, to
treatment conditions (and metallographic structure such as aid conduction and weldability. Both these features added to
prior austenite grain size — where for example prior auste- the copper content of the steels and welds. Nickel was added
nite grain size is said to be considerably larger, about a to steels and welds as a deliberate alloying element to
factor two in diameter, than in other RPV steels) and irra- improve (lower) the unirradiated transition temperature.
diation temperature (defect structure) is similar. In addition With the realization that copper and phosphorus were
to the roles of copper, phosphorus and nickel in the embrit- deleterious and increased the sensitivity to irradiation
tlement process other elements such as carbon, manganese, degradation the levels were reduced by modifying the
molybdenum, chromium and also tin, antimony and other specifications and thereby reducing the sensitisation
elements have also been suggested but are not considered to elements to concentrations which were at the residual
be major sensitisation elements. level. The residual level of copper in steels is not only
There has been much outstanding modelling work on dependent on the scrap control, but also on the country of
Western steels [36,37] to predict the change in mechanical origin of the ore.
properties from a mechanistic base. These studies have
mainly been based on the observations on the irradiation
behaviour of ‘Western’ steels. There has been little 8.3. Trend equations
published on the modelling of Eastern steels and there
does not appear to have been a comparison of the modelling However, turning to the irradiation trend equations, it is
of the two steels. re-emphasised that the USNRC and Russian trend equations
For the purpose of plant operation, the changes in are only distinguished by the neutron fluence or by varia-
mechanical properties of pressure vessel steels are described tions in the concentration of deleterious elements, whether
by empirical equations which have been prepared from a they be residual or added, such as copper, phosphorus and
data base of such mechanical properties. There are many nickel. Variation in irradiation temperature, (implied as
empirical equations stemming, usually, from national data. being ⬍ 275⬚C for the WWER 440 materials and can be
Generally, the limitations to the approach of using empirical corrected for in USNRC guide), dislocation density, matrix
equations are usually associated with the appropriateness of copper concentration, heat treatment conditions (tempera-
the data (e.g. whether the material was irradiated in a mate- ture and cooling rate) are not usually directly included in
rial test reactor or in a power producing reactor where the these simple empirical equations. In an enlightening
analysis, Williams et al. [38] have classified trend equations roughly constant when compared with Russian steels and
into four types and examples are given here: welds. With the possibilities for temper embrittlement then
Type Equation form the heat treatment conditions post welding (controlling the
1 (CF × f n) austenitic grain size) could also be important, the heat treat-
2 (A ⫹ CF) × f n ment temperature can also determine the amount of copper
3 A × f N0 ⫹ CF1 ⫹ CF2 × I N2
4 A × fN0 ⫹ CF1 × f 1f ⫹ f2 f in solution — the deleterious form of copper with regard to
irradiation effects. A further comment on this approach of
where CF is the Chemistry Factor and f is the fast neutron inserting different values for the deleterious elements to
fluence ( ⬎ 1 MeV). compare different steels is that it must be remembered
Selected examples of trend equations: that the trend equations are based on a generic data base
which will produce different predictions of changes in
Equation Type Exp. Cu CuNi Ni P Others
developed by: mechanical properties because the particular trend equation
Buswell ’94 4 V Y Y will have ‘in-built’ biases as a result of the many underlying
Williams ’87 4 V Y0 assumptions and ‘fitting’ of data.
Amaev and Kryukov 3 3 V Y Cu*P
NRC RG 1.99 [3] 2 0.5 Y0 Y0
Odette ’84(W) 1 F Y Y 8.4. Neutron energy effects
Guthrie ’84 1 F Y Y Y Y
When considering one irradiated mechanical property
where: W, weld ; EXP is fluence exponent e.g. 0.5 means F data set with another it is necessary to harmonise some
to the power 0.5; Y, element or combination; Y 0 , element features to allow a comparison to be made. One such feature
included with threshold (e.g. Cu-0.08); F, is fluence depen- is the neutron energy spectrum used for reporting the irra-
dence; C, chemistry dependence; V, varies with damage diated mechanical property data (for a given neutron fluence
exponent. more damage is produced at a higher neutron energy). The
Williams [38] went on to compare these equations by convention with WWERs is to present data as a function of
substituting actual values for copper and plotting the shift neutron fluence at En ⬎ 0.5 MeV. Conventionally, data for
in Charpy transition temperature for different fluences. Western steels has usually been expressed as a function of
Examples are shown in Fig. 18(a)–(c) three copper levels. neutron fluence where En ⬎ 1 MeV. There have been
The curves have been chosen to show the variations that are numerous attempts to rationalise the situation by using the
possible. In their paper they concluded that the quantitative unifying unit of ‘displacements per atom’ (dpa), but there is
differences arose from: a reluctance to use this unit, as evidenced by the reporting of
new (and existing) data in the conventional way. The ratio
• material differences;
between fluences with energies greater than 0.5 and
• irradiation environment differences;
1.0 MeV depends on the position in the reactor where the
• data distribution differences;
ratio is determined, locations such as the position in the
• inappropriate extrapolation;
RPV wall, the reactor reflector dimensions, the relative posi-
One should add that irradiation differences, neutron flux tion of the surveillance specimens assemblies (called
energy differences, using a ‘conservative’ rather than a ‘best ‘surveillance chains’ in the WWER). As an example
fit’ approach for describing the data for trend curve predic- Brumovsky gives the following conversion factors for the
tion purposes and also defining the source of the data (MTR WWER-440:
or power reactor) are all factors which can affect the Zaritsky and Osmera [39] also report similar conversion
outcome of any trend curve prediction. Indeed it will be factors but for the surveillance chains they report a slightly
recalled that in this paper it is suggested that it is the higher conversion factor of 1.8–2.0. For the conversion
differences between the trend equations that produces differ- factor to ‘dpa’ Williams’s relationship is used [38] where
ent predictions in the degradation of mechanical properties. 5 × 10 23 n m ⫺2 is equivalent to 0.075 dpa for the nominal
It has been said before that while there are differences position given in the relationships below. For the surveil-
between steels from different countries the overwhelming lance position, since mostly, we are comparing results on
conclusion is that neutrons impinging on an, essentially iron test samples, the approximate conversion is:
lattice produce the same defects irrespective of the country
in which it happens and any differences are to do with the FEn ⬎ 0:5 MeV=FEn ⬎ 1 MeV / 1:78
concentration and morphology of residual irradiation
and also:
damage — which is essentially to do with the neutron
flux, neutron energy and irradiation temperature. The inter- 1 × 1023 nm⫺2 E ⬎ 1 MeV / 0:0450 dpa
actions with deleterious elements are also essentially the
same — any differences being to do with their concentration There would appear to be some disparity between this
— we have seen that US steels do not appear to be sensitive derived conversion value and that obtained in the IAEA
to phosphorus content because the levels are low and Coordinated Research Programme of 0.015 dpa.
Table 27
Conversion factors for different neutron energy for the WWER-440
Position f( ⬎ 0.5 MeV)/f( ⬎ 1 MeV)
Surveillance specimens 1.73

RPV (inside) 1.58
RPV (outside) 2.58
The approximate design lifetime fluences of the plants

under consideration are given in Table 27.
Fig. 19. Transition shift at an irradiation temperature of 270⬚C for speci-
mens having a different chemistry factor (CF k %P ⫹ 0.1%Cu). After
8.5. Russian data and trend curves Amaev et al. [32].
Amaev et al. [32] state that since the late 1970s ‘vessels
are (now) fabricated from materials with limited concentra- (Table 29) for a range of CFs which encompass those in
tions of impurity elements, namely, copper (0.10 wt%) and Table 28 and reflect the sensitivity of ‘real’ materials to
phosphorus (0.012 wt%)’ In terms of the Russian trend different fluences with neutrons E ⬎ 0.5 MeV [40] up to
equations these compositions equate to the chemistry EOL fluences Fig. 20.
factors k 0.022 and 800(P ⫹ 0.07Cu) 15.2 (but in the These values have been converted to a fluence ⬎ 1 MeV
Russian code [1] a value of 15 is given). They showed the in Table 30 and are shown graphically in Fig. 21.
dependence of transition temperature shift as a function of Some of the features of the curves in Fig. 21 show that for
neutron fluence (E ⬎ 0.5 MeV) for weld and base materials chemistry factors (CF) of interest, in real materials, the shift
of specimens of different chemistry factors irradiated at in transition temperatures increases to give very large shifts
270⬚C (Fig. 19). for the very high CFs. Pressure vessels have been annealed
The Russian code predictive equation for weld metal to ameliorate such large shifts in mechanical properties and
irradiated at 270⬚C is as follows: this aspect will be discussed in Section 8.6. For the weld and
base materials representing ‘modern practice’ then it can be
DT 800P ⫹ 0:07Cu:f0:33 seen that the transition temperature shift is less than 100⬚C
by the end of life.
The copper and phosphorus values for the critical welds
in WWER-440 plants are given in Ref. [40] and this allows
the chemistry factor to be calculated (it is noted that some of 8.6. US data and trend curves
these values may be modified in the light of recent data,
however, they serve the purposes of this paper). The database which underpins the USNRC Reg. Guide
From the ‘chemistry factor’ values for ‘real’ materials Rev. 2 [2] is now in need of updating (see, for example, Ref.
given earlier (Table 28), the DTT has been calculated [41] — which was published in 1986) but it is difficult to
Table 28
Chemistry factors for WWER 440 weld 4 [40]
Plant Copper Phosphorus ka 800(P ⫹ 0.07Cu)
Kola 1 0.15 0.033 0.048 34.8

Kola 2 0.15 0.04 0.055 40.4
Armenia 1 0.16 0.03 0.046 33.0
Armenia 2 No values quoted
Novovoronezh 3 0.15 0.031 0.046 33.2
Novovoronezh 4 0.17 0.03 0.047 33.5
Kozloduy 1 0.12 0.052 0.064 48.3
Kozloduy 2 0.18 0.038 0.056 40.5
Kozloduy 3 0.20 0.036 0.056 40.0
Kozloduy 4 0.04 0.021 0.025 19.0
Bohunice 1 0.10 0.043 0.053 40.2
Bohunice 2 0.11 0.026 0.037 27.0
Greifswald 1 0.10 0.043 0.053 40.2
Greifswald 2 0.15 0.036 0.051 37.2
Greifswald 3 0.12 0.035 0.047 34.7
Greifswald 4 0.16 0.035 0.051 37.0
a
k P ⫹ 0.1Cu is on approximate way to assess the shift in transition temperature as can be seen in Fig. 19. The values given in Table 26 can be compared
with the shift data given in the figure. Of course many of the pressure vessels listed above have been annealed to mitigate the irradiation damage.
Table 29
Transition temperature shifts in WWER-440 steels for selected ‘chemistry factors’
Chemistry factor Fluence (10 23 n m ⫺2) (En ⬎ 0.5 MeV)

0.1 0.3 0.5 1 2 4 6 8 10
15 15 22 26 32 41 51 59 65 70
30 30 43 51 65 81 103 117 129 139
40 40 58 68 86 109 137 157 172 189
50 50 72 86 108 136 171 196 215 232
Table 30
Shift in transition temperature of selected Eastern RPV welds as a function of neutron fluence, where Eneutron has also been normalised to E ⬎ 1 MeV
Chemistry factor Fluence (10 23 n m ⫺2)

F ⬎ 1.0 MeV 0.1 0.5 1.0 5.0 10 15 20
F ⬎ 0.5 MeV 0.18 0.89 1.78 8.92 17.8 26.8 35.7
15 18 31 39 67 84 97 106
20 24 41 52 89 113 129 142
30 36 62 78 134 169 193 213
40 49 83 104 179 225 258 284
50 61 104 131 223 282 322 355
access and to know what is the current version of the data- Guide Rev. 2. The results are shown in Table 31 and plotted
base and what is available and useable. However, it is in Fig. 22. The database supporting the guide is limited to
assumed in this report that this current Revision is still the results at fluences ⬍ 4 × 10 23 n m ⫺2 so the prediction has
only formal and appropriate way to describe irradiation been truncated at about this value. There can be little knowl-
degradation in US steels. This point is stressed because edge of the conservatism or otherwise at higher fluence.
the particular guide could be in use in other countries and Indeed, many observers have commented upon the fact
for materials where there may be an inadequate data base — that there is an over-conservatism at low ( ⬍ ⬃ 100) chem-
although as has already been noted there is a nationalisti- istry factors.
cally based proliferation of trend equations and it is to be
hoped that future activities will be harmonised approaches
for the mutual benefit of the operators and safety of nuclear 8.7. Comparison of Eastern and Western steels
power plants. It is noted that the IAEA have embarked on
From the foregoing treatment it can be seen that because
this international activity which could possibly lead to such
the compositions of the Eastern and Western steels are
benefits.
different it is not possible to compare them. Even the results
From the approach adopted for the WWER steels, appro-
from trend equations are not directly comparable because
priate values of the chemistry factor for actual US welds
have been selected from published data and the shift in
transition temperature calculated on the basis of the Reg.
Fig. 20. Predicted shift in transition temperature for WWER-440 steels Fig. 21. Shift in the Cv transition temperature versus neutron fluence (E ⬎
over the range of chemistry factors of interest in ‘real materials’ plotted as a 1 MeV) for an appropriate range of chemistry factors for ‘real’ Eastern
function of neutron dose where E ⬎ 0.5 MeV. steels.
Table 31
Shift in transition temperature, converted to ⬚C, for selected US RPV welds
Fluence (10 23n m -2, E ⬎ 1 MeV)

Cu Ni CF(⬚F) 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
CE, HiCu, HiNi 0.35 1.0 272 151 180 195 205 212
B and W, HiCu, Linde 80 0.35 0.6 212 118 140 152 160 165
B and W, Int Cu, Linde 80 0.20 0.6 160 89 106 115 121 125
HiCu, LoNi 0.30 0.1 139 77 92 99 104 108
Lo Cu, HiNi 0.03 1.0 41 23 27 29 31 32
B and W, LoCu, Linde 80 0.03 0.6 41 23 27 29 31 32
they depend upon calculations which are related to the steels leading to irradiation resistance, by reducing deleter-
concentration of deleterious elements which are different ious element concentration, then it is not surprising that
in Eastern and Western steels. In one guide (USNRC) reducing the chemistry factor improves the irradiation resis-
copper is the dominant sensitisation element and phos- tance of both East and West ‘modern’ (post 1972) steels.
phorus in the other (the Russian code). There is a different However, while this conclusion is an obvious one, it never-
irradiation sensitivity. theless raises the question, which is more academic than
However, by considering the range of chemistry factors, pragmatic, as to the appropriateness of a particular trend
as defined in the appropriate national codes and guides [1,2], equation in describing the mechanisms of irradiation
for the compositions of ‘real’ Eastern and Western steels, embrittlement at these lower levels of phosphorus for the
then it is possible to compare the predictions of the Charpy Eastern steels and also, remembering the regulatory empha-
‘V’ transition temperature shift for an appropriate range of sis of the Western guide where covering the worse data
‘real chemistry factors’ by combining Figs. 21 and 22 as in could lead to an overly conservative prediction at low chem-
Fig. 23. istry factor materials.
Two features are immediately evident from an examina- There is a third category of pressure vessel steels which
tion of Fig. 23. Firstly with this approach the ‘best’ and the have not been discussed extensively in this paper because
‘worst’ steels show, to a close approximation, that the beha- they cannot be readily compared with US steels, namely
viour of Eastern and Western steels are the same. Secondly those for the WWER-1000. There is little or no surveillance
the ‘end-of-life’ fluence of the WWER 440 welds is signifi- data available on these steels and there are problems asso-
cantly higher than PWRS. ciated with the ability to analyse the data. Besides they have
It is only to be expected that there should be differences in the very high nickel content of the welds. It is understood
the predicted transition shift between the two predictive [18] that the surveillance chains were located in a region
approaches because of differences in the supporting data where the axial flux is rapidly changing so that there are few
bases, differences in experimental scatter in the underlying specimens irradiated to the same fluence. The specimen
data and differences in the mathematical–statistical treat- location was such that their irradiation temperature reflected
ment to produce the trend equations. So it is possible that the coolant outlet temperature rather than the PV wall
this observation is a coincidence as far as the worst chem- temperatures and this could introduce a lack of conserva-
istry factor results are concerned. It should also be realised tism. Studies are continuing on these particular surveillance
that this is a coarse comparison, and Fig. 23 includes all the materials.
reservations associated with the empiricism of both But, even though the steel was specifically developed for
approaches. the WWER 1000 application, hindsight suggests that
However, because the developments in the production of knowledge of irradiation effects was not sufficient to
Fig. 22. Shift in transition temperature of US welds encompassing a range Fig. 23. Comparison of Eastern and Western steels on the basis of their
of typical chemistry factors. codes and guides.
allow the move outside even the existing irradiation data-

base in terms of the specification of the welds. The benefits
of the lower neutron flux may have been lost in terms of
plant life assurance and mitigation of the neutron fluence
may be a consideration.
Due to the higher fluence in the WWER-440 steels, it is
not surprising that mitigation was actively pursued and it
was not as pressing a problem with PWRS. We have not
discussed mitigation and the various possibilities within
the scope of this paper. It has been discussed extensively
elsewhere [4]. One mitigation possibility is to anneal the
pressure vessel and thus remove the degradation. This
possibility will be discussed and described in Section 9.
Referring to Fig. 23, it can be seen that, because of the
accrued irradiation degradation with the higher fluence
that this has been a more pressing problem for the older
WWERs which had the higher chemistry factors than for
the PWRs whose steels had a similar sensitivity to irradia-
tion but were exposed to a significantly lower fluence.
Annealing is the only measure that can restore the pres-
sure vessel material toughness. By addressing this bene- Fig. 24. Annealing effectiveness for Eastern steels as a function of anneal-
ficial action, plant life assurance can be sought for the ing temperature and also as a function of the difference between irradiation
older plants and operational life extension becomes a temperature and annealing temperature. Note that 80% recovery occurs at
annealing temperatures above 420⬚C. After Amaev et al. [32].
possibility.
9. Annealing of irradiation effects and re-irradiation of the older plants and render the RPV a non-life limiting
behaviour component, thereby reducing the price of the electricity
generated from that plant. At the same time reducing the
9.1. Annealing strains (and their frequency) in a vessel during a postulated
temperature transient could reduce the probability of failure.
There have been many investigations, studies and reviews Such strains can be mitigated by, for example, increasing
of the annealing of irradiation effects in both East and West the emergency cooling water temperature in the event of it
RPV steels. Annealing is carried out in order to recover the being needing to be used.
unirradiated mechanical properties. (See Ref. [5] for a Radiation effects are usually manifested as an increase in
recent state-of-the-art report on the subject.) The develop- the ductile–brittle transition temperature, a drop in the
ments arising from these studies have been of high techno- upper shelf fracture energy and a decrease in fracture tough-
logical significance and are comparable to the actions taken ness. Heating the steel at a temperature higher than the
as a result of the identification of the sensitisation role of irradiation temperature, for a relatively short period reverses
copper and phosphorus nearly three decades ago. these changes (Fig. 24) and this action leads to the recovery
We have seen that the degradation effect of neutron irra- of the unirradiated mechanical properties.
diation on RPV steels should have been controlled for the The recovery of upper shelf properties occurs at tempera-
newer vessels by reducing the concentration of deleterious tures lower than that required for the recovery of the transi-
elements, but there are still areas where more information is tion temperature. The Eastern results tend to focus on this
needed. With the increase in knowledge and expanding latter parameter. Four examples of different steels are given
database on RPV steels there will now be a reluctance to in Figs. 24–28 showing that substantial recovery of irradia-
venture into the use of further developments in these steels. tion embrittlement occurs at annealing temperatures of
The motivation for research and development work in the about 450⬚C at times of about 100 h.
area of annealing and re-irradiation is associated with plant The most surprising observation in Figs. 27–30 is that the
life assurance and also to an extension of operational life. annealing conditions are roughly the same for Eastern and
Mitigation measures to reduce the neutron fluence can ease, Western steels. This would suggest that the factors which
but not necessarily cure the problem of ensuring plant control the degree of annealing recovery in terms of
operational life. Annealing the RPV is a mitigation action temperature and time are the same and would indicate that
which can achieve this objective and can also, if the appli- the rate of recovery might be controlled by the same
cation of the annealing techniques are practicable, particu- mechanism(s) in both cases. In fact in another study on
larly for the larger US PWRPVs, extend the operational life WWER 440 steels Novosad [45] found no clear dependence
Fig. 25. Annealing recovery of a number of Western RPV steels and welds irradiated at a temperature ⬎ 270⬚C and annealed for 168 h. After Mager [42].
Fig. 26. Annealing recovery of Western welds after Hawthorne [35] showing recovery at specific annealing temperatures after irradiation at 288⬚C to a fluence
of 1.4 × 10 19 n cm ⫺2.
by dissolution. The CRP coarsen with reductions in their

manganese and nickel contents. At 450⬚C the SMD recover
and the CRP undergo further dissolution which now
includes redissolving of the copper and extensive coarsen-
ing. They also comment that they would expect the effect of
copper and phosphorus on residual hardening to be modest
for long term (greater than 50 h) annealing. They stress that
their recovery models should be treated as curve fits rather
than fundamental physical models but that the models are
underpinned by the understanding from the irradiation
effects physical studies. While they comment on the
adequacy of the database, they stress the need for data on
‘real’ RPV materials of appropriate composition. (The US
interest in partial recovery i.e. the application of lower
temperature conditions will be commented upon later.)
It should be remembered that, in the context of this paper,
Fig. 27. Preliminary results on the recovery on annealing WWER-1000
there is a fundamental difference between Eastern and
weld containing high nickel after Nikolaev et al. [43]. Western steels and the explanation of the annealing
processes in Eastern steels is different from that given by
Eason et al. previously for Western (US) steels. Their expla-
on annealing recoverability on radiation conditions and nation for Western steels is based on both the recovery of
composition which is consistent with the observation here. neutron irradiation matrix damage and essentially on the
The mechanisms underlying annealing recovery continue behaviour of the copper rich precipitates. But in the Eastern
to be studied, but any explanation should include the prac- steels the explanation must be based, not only on the compo-
tical case of actual WWER anneals for their composition nent of neutron damage but also primarily on the behaviour
and conditions. of the phosphides and copper. This latter point has
In the modelling of annealing recovery data from the US been demonstrated by Kryukov [41] and shown in Fig.
Test Reactor Embrittlement Data Base, and other sources, 24(a)–(c) [44] where the result of annealing is the same
Eason et al. [46] use current mechanistic models [47,48] to irrespective of the fluence, that the annealing temperature
explain different stages of recovery. At about 340⬚C the is a function of the phosphorus content and the residual
primary recovery is due to unstable matrix defect (UMD) embrittlement is the same after annealing, at an appropriate
dissolution and at longer annealing times partial recovery of temperature, irrespective of the phosphorus content and
some of the stable matrix defects (SMD) and there may be neutron fluence.
some small changes in the copper rich precipitates (CRP). At While the observation of ‘roughly’ the same annealing
400⬚C the UMD and almost all the SMD recover, primarily temperature for East and West steels in Figs. 27–30 may
Fig. 28. (a) and (b). These two figures relate to the annealing recovery graph in Fig. 27 above. It shows the residual shift on annealing at 460⬚C as a function of
both nickel and phosphorus content. The nickel content seems to dominate the residual shift and one of the samples contained ⬃ 2.4 wt% nickel. The
phosphorus content seems to be constant except for the specimens with very low phosphorus contents — but samples with high nickel had low phosphorus —
so the variation with low and high concentrations of nickel and phosphorus cannot be readily distinguished.
Fig. 29. Residual embrittlement in Sv 1OKhMFT as a function of (a) neutron fluence, (b) phosphorus content, and (c) phosphorus content and annealing
temperature [44].
just be a coincidence, however, the practical significance in further annealing, (which was resolved with additional
RPV technology is important in terms of deciding upon the data obtained from new RPV samples) and also to the
annealing temperature for irradiated vessels. annealing of the Loviisa 1 RPV in Finland. In Western
As we have already seen, the WWER 440-230/213 RPVs PWRPVs the most sensitive regions could be either the
have a higher EOL fluence than other vessels and the highest base materials or the welds. It is the copper and nickel levels
fluence for welds is at the weld 4 position. Also we have which give rise to concerns but now the fluence levels in
seen that these welds have a high content of phosphorus (see some vessels are approaching a stage where actions such as
Table 28). This feature led to a marked sensitivity to irra- annealing are being considered.
diation in these particular RPVs leading to annealing of Generally results suggest that annealing at 450⬚C gives a
many RPVS, and recently led to controversy on the contin- greater than 60% recovery of unirradiated properties while
ued safe operation of Kozloduy number 1 NPP without annealing at 475⬚C gives about 80% recovery. Usually the
Fig. 29. (continued)
upper shelf recovery occurs at lower temperatures. Where DBTT. Not only is there a lack of unirradiated mechanical
there is no unirradiated mechanical data it is difficult to properties for earlier vessels, but the composition of the
determine unirradiated properties to establish the ‘starting steels, with regard to the deleterious elements, is not
point’. Comment has already been made about the level of known — so there is concern about the amount of unirra-
confidence in calculating the unirradiated value of the diated data that is available. However, even though these
facts are not known, the previous studies suggest that the
actual concentration of key elements do not lead to differ-
ences in the recovery process — it is the reirradiation beha-
viour that is important. However, establishing the safety
case requires knowledge of the ‘base’ properties.
The reconstruction of the unirradiated properties by heat
treating irradiated samples of pressure vessels have shown
that results are very sensitive to cooling rates after heat
treatment. One treatment is to heat samples for two hours
at 560⬚C and air cool (this is thought to be in the regime of
temper embrittlement in welds containing high phosphorus
— giving ‘unstable’ results). Another correlation with
initial toughness is when samples are heated to 20⬚C
below the stress relieving temperature of 650⬚C and are
cooled at a rate of about 10⬚C h ⫺1 (and 5⬚C h ⫺1 below
500⬚C) — which is even slower than the PV cooling rate
during annealing. Thus the absence of unirradiated data, in
retrospect, is a penalty in validating the degree of recovery
during the annealing of actual vessels.
There were some early attempts at ‘wet’ annealing where
the PV was heated by increasing the coolant temperature
with energy from the primary circulating pumps. Tempera-
tures of 340⬚C were reached without external heating and
this produced low recovery of the RPV mechanical proper-
ties. In order to achieve higher temperatures it became
necessary to remove the active core and internals and to
use an external heating source. Equipment for ‘dry’ anneal-
ing WWER PVs was developed and the equipment has been
Fig. 30. Effect of re-irradiation on the transition temperature shift after described elsewhere [5]. Anneals have been carried out on
various anneals on an irradiated weld. After Mager [50]. 15 RPVs which are listed in Table 32 together with the
Table 32
WWER RPV anneals. The annealing temperature possibly exceeded 500⬚C during the anneal of the Bohunice 2 RPV. 500⬚C is usually taken as about the
temperature for temperature embrittlement to occur in a rapid manner, but it has been observed at lower temperatures [34]. Temper embrittlement is a non-
hardening embrittlement, but the recovery of this vessel during annealing was determined by hardness tests. This experience should indicate that surveillance
of the annealing process should also be carried out to demonstrate that annealing recovery has taken place and that temper embrittlement has not occurred. The
presence of the stainless steel cladding presents a major sampling–testing problem but the whole purpose of the annealing exercise is to recover mechanical
properties — to demonstrate the safety of the pressure vessel. More work is needed in this area. A possibility is that the formation of phosphides during
irradiation and recovery precludes the availability of phosphorus for temper embrittlement; in this sense irradiation de-sensitises the steel with regard to
classical temper embrittlement
Year Reactor Clad Temperature (⬚C)/time (h) Ann. Company
1987 Novovoronezh 3 No 410–450/150 Russian team

1988 Armenia 1 No 460–490/150 Russian team
1988 Greifswald 1 (Nord 1) No 460–490/150 Russian team
1989 Kola 1 No 460–490/150 Russian team
1989 Kola 2 No 460–490/150 Russian team
1989 Kozloduy 1 No 460–490/150 Russian team
1989 Kozloduy 3 Yes 460–490/150 Russian team
1990 Greifswald 2 (Nord 2) No 460–490/150 Russian team
1990 Greifswald 3 (Nord 3) Yes 460–490/150 Russian team
1991 Novovoronezh 3 (reannealing) No 460–490/100 Russian team
1992 Novovoronezh 4 No 460–490/150 Russian team
1992 Kozloduy 2 No 460–490/150 Russian team
1993 J Bohunice V-1/2 Yes 475–503/160 Skoda
1993 J Bohunice V-1/1 Yes 475–496/168 Skoda
1995 Loviisa 1 Yes 475–500/100 Skoda and Bohunice team
organization which carried out the annealing. The ‘Russian contain longitudinal (axial) welds (since they were
team’ included resources from a number of Russian constructed from plates) but also contain base materials
organizations. (plates and forged rings) which are also sensitive to irradia-
One of the important features to be considered during the tion damage. Because of these difficulties, the stress
annealing of all RPVs has to do with the level of residual analyses for the annealing process are also more compli-
stress after annealing and which derives from the residual cated and such analyses may lead to a more precise control
strains from the temperature gradients during heating and of the heating–cooldown conditions and soaking tempera-
cooling the RPV. However, because annealing activity in ture during annealing. For example the annealing tempera-
the WWER 440-230 is focused at only one ring weld (weld ture may need to be as low as possible and this may require
number 4) then the thermal stresses are minimized by compromising the degree of recovery. This feature leads to
controlling the heat-up and cooldown rates to about the need for extending the Eason et al. modelling work
20⬚C h ⫺1. In the case of PWRs where there may be base mentioned earlier [46], and as they propose, to ‘real’ mate-
material embrittlement or if there are longitudinal welds rials rather than just test reactor data so that the annealing
there may be complications [42] (W. Server, priv. comm.) conditions for US RPVs can be ‘tailored’ to provide useful
which will require a more sophisticated stress analysis and a recovery in the event of thermal strain constraints during
more detailed specification for the annealing cycle. annealing.
After much experimental work [44] it has been estab- A significant document has recently been issued in the US
lished that for the WWER 440-230 PVs: [49] covering the in-service anneal of light water reactor
pressure vessels. Not only does the document provide a
• the minimum annealing temperature should be 420⬚C;
listing of appropriate documents in terms of guides and
• the annealing temperature should be 150⬚C–200⬚C
standards, but it also gives the general considerations for
higher than the irradiation temperature;
in-service annealing, methodology, surveillance and verifi-
• the annealing time should be 72–150 h;
cation and documentation requirements.
• the residual embrittlement after annealing does not
The current situation in the US on annealing (S. Rosinski,
depend on neutron fluence and is defined by the phos-
priv. comm.) indicates that progress is being made in the
phorus content of the steel (at least up to 0.040 wt% P).
consideration of annealing PWR RPVs. In July 1996 a
Studies on the annealing conditions for US RPVs have demonstration annealing of the Marble Hill unirradiated
been carried out for many years [5], but except for some pressure vessel was carried out. The project involved
early work, no irradiated civil NPPRPV has been dry EPRI, the US DoE and the nuclear power industry. The
annealed in the US. As has already been mentioned earlier, USNRC participated as an observer. Part of the RPV was
but in a different context, a major difference from the heated to about 850⬚F for 7 days. The objectives of the
WWERs is that many of the earlier PWRPVs not only Marble Hill annealing demonstration were to verify the
Fig. 31. Transition temperature shift behaviour of submerged arc welds containing 0.35 wt% Cu and 0.7 wt% Ni and compared with the results of a reference
steel. Irradiations were carried out at 288⬚C and anneals were at 399⬚C. After Hawthorne [51].
dimensional stability, validate thermal–stress models and the pressure vessel safely which prompts the question ‘What
also demonstrate the engineering procedures. Westinghouse is the re-embrittlement rate on continued irradiation?’ Data
the prime contractor managed all on-site engineering and from WWERs and Western studies suggests that the rate is
performed the structural analysis. Annealing involved the same or lower than in the first irradiation as shown in
placing a large heat exchanger, designed by Cooperheat, Figs. 31–33 [44,50–52].
which utilised an indirect gas-fired combustion process Again, the re-irradiation rate of embrittlement is similar
with the five burners located outside the containment. This in all cases and the re-embrittlement curves seem to satu-
process provided precise control of the RPV temperature. rate at lower levels than previous irradiations but the resi-
The heating rate was about 20⬚F per hour, heated for 1 week dual embrittlement after annealing stays relatively
and cooled down at the same rate. The RPV and surrounding constant. The degree of recovery after two and three irra-
equipment was extensively monitored by thermocouples, diation cycles and annealing at 420⬚C and 460⬚C is the
strain gauges and displacement gauges. Preliminary results same as after the first one and is defined only by the phos-
indicate that the RPV responded as predicted in EPRI TR- phorus content of the steel. The rate of re-embrittlement
104934. Dimensional integrity was maintained and ther- during re-irradiation is not higher than during the initial
mally induced stresses were within acceptable limits. The irradiation. This is an important observation also for the
thermal response of piping and concrete was within accep- US case because we are probably considering saturated
table limits. recovery in these examples. It may not be the case for
Recent restrictions have limited the DoEs funds for incomplete recovery where a lower annealing temperature
annealing activities in 1997. EPRI has assumed responsibil- may be being used to reduce thermal strains during the
ity for completion of the project and will publish a final annealing cycle.
report on the Marble Hill project in 1997. There are different ways of accommodating the change in
The second annealing project on the cancelled Midland mechanical properties in prediction formulae the techniques
plant has been postponed as a result of the financial which are for ensuring conservatism are variously called the
constraints. The demonstration was to utilise a Russian ‘lateral’and the ‘vertical’ shift methods and are shown sche-
designed electrical resistance heater. A furnace was fabri- matically in Fig. 33.
cated and tested in Russia but not shipped to the US. There Kryukov [44] has developed and applied a ‘conservative’
is now a decreased interest in annealing of actual RPVs method for Russian steels for estimating Tk, it is still
following further detailed assessment of need. appropriate and this method has been in use since 1987.
The method of ‘lateral shift’ has been justified by Kryu-
9.2. Re-irradiation after recovery annealing kov in 1993 on a basis of a large body of data justified in
the light of the now large body of data as shown in Fig.
The sole purpose of annealing RPVs is to continue using 34(a)–(c).
East and West steels are probably a reflection of the uncer-

tainties and conservatisms inherent in the databases and the
statistical ‘fitting’ to produce the trend equations — which
may be an academic point because the irradiation sensitivity
is at low levels anyway.
However, a major feature of the WWER-440 pressure
vessels was the significantly higher neutron fluence targeted
for the end of life. Together with a degrading ‘chemistry
factor’ the high fluence ensured that the steel would become
highly embrittled. The fluence for the PWR was less oner-
ous because of the significantly lower end-of-life fluence for
this larger vessel.
However, higher shift at lower fluence led to fluence
mitigation measures for WWERs and PWRs and the incen-
tive for Russians to thermally anneal their WWER pressure
vessels to ameliorate the irradiation damage. Interestingly
annealing conditions and recovery are similar in both
Western and Eastern steels. Techniques were developed
by the Russians to ‘dry’ anneal pressure vessels and a
large number have been successfully annealed. In the
USA considerations have and are being given to annealing
older vessels. A significant difference when compared with
the WWER anneals is the likely increased thermal stresses
after annealing because of the larger heating zone for
annealing — partly because of the presence of axial welds
in the beltline region of the pressure vessel. Further consid-
eration may lead to ‘partial annealing’ to reduce these resi-
dual stresses, with the consequential reduced recovery of
unirradiated mechanical properties.
Reirradiation of the Eastern and Western steels restores
the degradation in mechanical properties but at a rate which
Fig. 32. Annealing and re-embrittlement behaviour of Russian steels. (a) appears to be lower than the initial degradation rate at the
the 420⬚C anneals show the results of annealing and re-irradiation of base
start of irradiation. Thereby, annealing has the potential for
metal, and (b) annealing of Armenia NPP weld metal surveillance samples.
After Kryukov [44]. creating plant life assurance and operational life extension.
There have been three major milestones in the develop-
ment of understanding in the management of irradiation
10. Conclusions effects in Eastern and Western reactor pressure vessel steels.
These are:
This paper compares Eastern (Russian) and Western (US) (1) The discovery, in the USA, of the neutron irradiation
steels used for reactor pressure vessels (WWERs and degradation of mechanical properties and the identification
PWRs) from the viewpoint of neutron irradiation sensitivity. of copper, phosphorus and, subsequently, nickel, as the
Because of crucial differences in the deleterious element major deleterious elements causing the effect.
concentration the steels cannot be directly compared. (2) In US steels, copper was found to be the most signifi-
There is also a shortage of data on irradiation effects on cant element, but the steels generally contained ‘low’ phos-
unirradiated and irradiated properties However, guides and phorous levels but then came the discovery that phosphorus,
codes have been developed for each of these two categories at higher concentrations than those usually found in US
of steel and the predictions can be based on the composition steels, together with a lower irradiation temperature, domi-
of these steels. nated the sensitivity to irradiation embrittlement in the
For the earlier ‘worse’ steels there is, coincidentally, a ‘Russian’ steels. Phosphorus had a role, but not a dominant
similar degradation in mechanical properties of Eastern and part, in the embrittlement of French steels and also steels
Western welds. For the later steels, which had been produced in some countries other than the US. Higher nickel
improved by reducing the concentration of those deleterious concentration gave metallurgical advantages in the pre-irra-
elements, identified in the ‘chemistry factor’ of the codes diation properties of PV steels but increased the susceptibil-
and guides, then the irradiation sensitivity was also reduced, ity to irradiation sensitivity. For the majority of pressure
and the shift in mechanical properties on irradiation was vessels, the sensitivity of the steels could be described by
also reduced. Differences in prediction of these improved trend relationships which had been formulated on the basis
Fig. 33. Lateral and vertical shift methods for the purpose of estimating re-irradiation embrittlement [42].
of the concentration of the main deleterious elements in the vessels. Such an approach of annealing pressure vessels is
steels and on their mechanical properties information in now being developed in the USA where the methodology is
national databases on the particular steels. A greater under- complicated by the longer axial length to be heated. The
standing of the underlying embrittlement mechanisms has WWER vessels require annealing of only one circumferen-
led to a more sophisticated mechanistic modelling of tial weld (‘in-core weld’) but many of the PWRs have been
‘national’ steels. manufactured from plates and have axial welds as well as
(3) In parallel with the above studies investigations had circumferential welds, so the annealing zone has to be
been conducted on annealing the irradiation damage in the longer than that of the WWERs. The higher residual strains
PVs by simple heat treatments. This feature progressed deriving from the thermal gradients during annealing of
more rapidly in Russia because the degradation effects PWRs have to be accommodated without undue distortion
were more marked because of the vessel dimensions there and high residual stress in the pressure vessel.
was a higher neutron flux incident upon the pressure vessel. The significance of these milestones is twofold. For future
It was found that a simple heat treatment, about 420⬚C– pressure vessels the specification of steels can now be
500⬚C for a week, was sufficient to give a high degree of performed with greater confidence that the irradiation
recovery. This was followed by the construction of equip- sensitivity will be significantly reduced. For the older pres-
ment for and of the annealing of the earlier WWER pressure sure vessels then it may be that the description of degree of
irradiation degradation will be sufficient to provide plant life

assurance for the contemplated operational life. For those
vessels where annealing is found to be practicable, then
plant life assurance or extended operational life is possible.
This overall technical ‘fix’, if the annealing conditions of
the larger pressure vessels can be optimised, can produce
large cost savings, which can be evaluated from the cost of
the development, equipment cost, outage time and
compared with the amount of additional revenue generated
from continued operation.
It was found that the spread of compositions in existing
pressure vessels led to a comparison between East and West
steels on the basis of their trend equations. This led to the
conclusion that, up to a neutron fluence of ⬃ 4 × 10 23 n m ⫺2
(E ⬎ 1 MeV), the irradiation sensitivity in terms of the
‘chemistry factor’ were of the same magnitude. For steels
characteristic of the older pressure vessels the shift in tran-
sition temperature was about the same showing that the
comparison was dominated by the higher concentration of
deleterious elements present in both East and West steels. In
the case of the East steels the phosphorous levels were
higher than the Western steels but the copper and nickel
contents were higher in the Western steels.
Above the fluence level of 4 × 10 19 n m ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV)
the transition shift behaviour of Western steels could not be
described because the database was constrained to speci-
mens irradiated to below this fluence level. This also
happens to be about the ‘end-of-life’ fluence for the pres-
surised water reactor. However, the WWER-440 ‘end-of-
life’ fluences are significantly higher [ ⬎ 1.2 × 10 24 n m ⫺2
(E ⬎ 1 MeV)] and so the transition shift is enhanced by the
higher fluence — not by its composition.
The most significant mechanistic feature of the compar-
ison of East and West steels is in the behaviour of phos-
phorus in Eastern steels. Phosphorus, in the earlier Russian
steels appears to be behaving in the some way as copper in
the Western steels. This behavioural difference has been
explained in terms of a concentration transition which
occurs at levels above about 0.012 wt% phosphorous. At
higher concentrations phosphorus is dominant but with
phosphorus concentrations below 0.012 wt% then copper
is the dominating deleterious element. Western steels
contain low phosphorus and so copper content is the domi-
nant component. However, it is noted that this composi-
tional transition feature also applies to the operating
mechanism and should be reflected in the empirical codes
used to predict irradiation sensitivity.
Annealing of irradiation damage occurs under modest
conditions of temperature and time (450⬚C–500⬚C for up
to about 1 week) and these conditions produce substantial
Fig. 34. Predicted versus measured shift in transition temperature due to

irradiation of WWER 440 base metal up to three cycles where the irradia-
tion temperature was 260⬚C and the annealing temperature was 425⬚C.
Using the conservative, vertical shift and the lateral shift methods.
( ⬎ 75%) recovery in both irradiated Eastern and Western AMES Report Number 9, European Commission Report EUR IAM/
steels. JRC, Petten, The Netherlands, 1997.
[12] Smith KF, Lesser DO. USAEC Report. ANL-He-1225, Argonne
National Laboratory, January 1952.
[13] Potapovs U, Hawthorne JR. Nuclear Applications 1969;6(1):27–46.
Acknowledgements [14] Hawthorne JR, Fortner E, Grant SP. Welding Journal Research
Supplement 1970;35(10):453.
This paper is published with the permission of the [15] Nuclear Power Reactors in the World, IAEA Reference Data Series
No 2. IAEA, Vienna, 1996.
European Commission for which it had the reference [16] Griesbach TJ. Reactor pressure vessel design and fabrication, EPRI,
number EUR17327EN. It is based on work partially spon- TR-101975-V6, September 1994.
sored by JRC/IAM Petten and by DGX1/C/Z Brussels of the [17] Griesbach TJ, Server WL. Reactor vessel embrittlement management
European Commission. This project would not have materi- handbook, TR-101975, December 1973.
alised without the financial support of DG X1, in particular [18] Report by OECD Support Group, Safety research needs for Russian
designed reactors, Nuclear Energy Agency, OECD, Dec 1996.
the enthusiasm of Jose Guinovart has been outstanding. The [19] Griesbach TJ. EPRI Report TR-100251, January 1993.
ongoing efforts of Serge Crutzen and Ulrik von Estorff at the [20] Brumovsky M. Lifetime and reliability of WWER RPVs from the
IAM JRC Petten are readily appreciated. This project was point of view of material properties, Nucleon, Journal of the REZ
started with Kari Torronnen when he was at VTT, but now Nuclear Research Institute, Rez, Czech Republic, ISSN 0302-8542,
he is the Director of IAM — as always working with him is No, 3—4, 1993.
[21] Pelli R, Torronen K. Reactor pressure vessel steels ASME SA533b
a pleasure. It is to him but mainly Reijo Pelli that I thank for and SA508 C12 microstructural observations, Technical Research
the contribution on the metallography of these steels (Figs. Centre of Finland Research Report 219, Espoo, Finland, 1983.
9–14) — and also his comments on the draft report. Thanks [22] Torronen K. Microstructural parameters and yielding in a quenched
are due for contributions made by Ron McElroy, Bob and tempered Cr-Mo-V PV steel, Technical Research Centre of
Carter, Bill Server, Stan Rosinski, Antonio Ballesteros and Finland, Materials and Processing Technology, Publication 22,
Espoo, Finland, 1979.
Karen Gott. It is a great pleasure for me to recognise the [23] Pelli R, Torronen K, Nenonen P. VTT internal Report, Espoo,
comments–contributions of Milan Brumovsky, ‘Sasha’ Finland, 1979.
Kryukov, Yuri Dragunov, Georgy Karsov and Leonid [24] Bergrenn RG, Canonico DA. ORNL-TM-5021 1975.
Ianko. Phillip Tipping is especially thanked for his [25] Petrequin P, Soulat P. IAEA symposium on the application of relia-
contribution. bility technology to NPP, Oct. 1977.
[26] Davies LM, Venables JH, Williams TJ. Irradiation embrittlement of a
variety of RPV plates and weldments, IAEA IWG, Vienna, Feb. 1979
and AERE report 1978.
References [27] Vishkarev OM, Zvezdin YI, Sharmadin VK, Tulyakov GA. Radiation
Embrittlement of Soviet 1000 MW WWERPV Steels, ASTM STP
[1] Strength Analysis standards for equipment and piping at nuclear 1170. Philadelphia, PA: ASTM, 1993:218–226.
power plants, Russian Code PNAE G-7-002-86, Moscow. [28] Mager TR. Utilisation of RPV surveillance data in support of ageing
[2] USNRC Reg. Guide 1.99 Rev. 2, Washington, DC, May 1988. management. ASTM STP 1993;1170:87–97.
[3] An Assessment of the Integrity of PWR Pressure Vessels. First Study [29] McElroy R, Lowe A. ASTM STP, Proc. of 17th ASTM Int. Meeting,
Group Report under the Chairmanship of Dr. W Marshall. London: 1997 (in press).
HMSO, 1976. [30] Phythian WJ, English CA. Microstructural evolution in RPV steels.
[4] Planman T, Pelli R, Torronen K. Irradiation embrittlement mitigation, Journal of Nuclear Materials 1993;205:162–177.
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A Comparison of Western and Eastern Nuclear Reactor PVS

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A Comparison of Western and Eastern Nuclear Reactor PVS

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International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 76 (1999) 163–208

A comparison of Western and Eastern nuclear reactor pressure vessel

neutron fluence for a specific material as shown in Fig. 2. It

3. PWR reactor types, designs, listing and materials

Pressurised water reactors (PWR) operate with a ‘water

Reactor Cap [MW(e)] Operator NSSS Grid Conn

Arkansas One-1 836 APL B&W 1974

Reactor Cap [MW(e)] Operator NSSS Grid Conn

Three Mile Island-1 786 GPU B&W 1974

Inside diameter (mm) 2770–4390 3560–4620 4340

Steel grade Heat treatment Vessels Usage dates Type

Technique Type Heat treatment Application Comment

Steel C Mn Pmax Smax Cr Mo Ni Others

A302B 0.25 max 1.15–1.50 0.035 0.040 0.45–0.60

Design information for Combustion Engineering, Inc. reactor vessels

5. WWER reactor types, designs, listing and materials

[WWER (vodo–vodyanoy energeticheskiy reaktor)

Table 7 Table 7 (continued)

Russia Kola 3 1981

WWER-1000 (in operation and under construction) 5.1.2. WWER-440-V230

V230(440) V213(440) V320(1000)

Mass (t) 215 215 320

Table 9 5.5. WWER steels

V-230 V-213 V-320

Cylindrical rings for PV 15Kh2MFA 15Kh2MFAA 15Kh2NMFAA

V-230 V-213 V-320

Automatic submerged arc-wire Sv-10KhMFT(U) Sv-15KhMFT(U) Sv-12Kh2N2MFA(A)

Room temperature 350⬚C

15Kh2MFA 431 539 14 50 392 490 14 50 0

Table 14 nite. The amount of retained austenite is usually 5%–15%.

Fig. 8. Optical micrograph of tempered SA 533B steel (mag. × 250).

In WWERS, neutron irradiation effects on mechanical

This transition shift due to irradiation can be expressed

Fig. 10. Optical micrograph of quenched 15Kh2NMFA steel (mag. × 200).

Table 15 Where: f is the fluence in units of 10 19 n cm ⫺2 (E ⬎

Plant Vessel supplier a Shell material Chemistry Date of operation

San Onofre Unit 1 CE A302B 0.014 0.18 ⬍ 0.15 1.36 1/1968

Donald C. Cook Unit 1 CE A533BCL1 0.012 0.14 0.68 1.48 8/1975

Plant Vessel supplier a Type of flux Chemistry

San Onofre Unit 1 CE N.A. 0.017 0.19 ⬍ 0.15

San Onofre Unit 1 A302B — — — —

San Onofre Unit 1 A302B 1.20 56 5.1 56

San Onofre Unit 1 N.A. a 1.20 44 5.1 81

Plant Fluence, n cm ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV) DRTNDT shift (⬚C)

San Onofre Unit 1 1.2 × 10 19

Plant Fluence, n cm ⫺2 (E ⬎ 1 MeV) DRTNDT shift (⬚C)

San Onofre Unit 1 1.20 × 10 19

Point Beach Unit 2 5.4 × 10 18 61 96 82

(DRTmatrix), precipitate hardening (DRTppt) and segregation caused by:

Cubulk  Cuheat ⫹ Cuppt ⫹ CuCu1:8S ⫹ Cumatrix

Pavinich et al. [31] describe the factors causing degrada-

Oconee 1 E WF-112 0.59 0.32 64 556 0.150 78 112 97 108

Material Composition Fluence [ × 10 19 (E ⬎ 1 MeV)] 41J temperature increase

Plate code Y1 0.24 0.62 0.008 173.9 3.31 102 127 ⫺ 25

Fig. 18. (continued)

Position f( ⬎ 0.5 MeV)/f( ⬎ 1 MeV)

Surveillance specimens 1.73

The approximate design lifetime fluences of the plants

Plant Copper Phosphorus ka 800(P ⫹ 0.07Cu)

Kola 1 0.15 0.033 0.048 34.8

Chemistry factor Fluence (10 23 n m ⫺2) (En ⬎ 0.5 MeV)

Chemistry factor Fluence (10 23 n m ⫺2)

Fluence (10 23n m -2, E ⬎ 1 MeV)

allow the move outside even the existing irradiation data-

Cubulk Cuheat ⫹ Cuppt ⫹ CuCu1:8S ⫹ Cumatrix