Title: Assessment of a collection of papers on property–property correlations in the field of radiation embrittlement of WWER reactor pressure vessel steels

Authors: Antonio Ballesteros, Marta Serrano, Milan Brumovsky

Addresses: Joint Research Centre of EC, Westerduinweg 3, 1755 LE Petten, The Netherlands. ' CIEMAT, Avenida Complutense 22, E-28040 Madrid, Spain. ' Nuclear Research Institute Rez plc, Division of Integrity and Technical Engineering, 250 68 Rez, Czech Republic

Abstract: Nuclear Knowledge Management (NKM) tools continue to be enhanced to support information exchange and knowledge distribution. New tools for supporting NKM were initiated by international organisations, including a web-based knowledge portal, ODIN, developed by the JRC of the European Commission. This portal is dedicated to knowledge preservation and consolidation and includes a nuclear database where papers on WWERs are collected and electronically stored. A collection of around 100 papers selected from the ODIN database on property–property correlations for irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels has been reviewed in order to have a clear picture of the advances achieved so far in this field, and to determine existing gaps and open issues. It allows identifying research activities needed, as described in this paper. The review performed focuses on two main areas, namely non-destructive examination of the embrittlement condition and fracture and Charpy toughness determination, including specimens size and constrain issues.

Keywords: nuclear knowledge management; WWER reactors; reactor pressure vessels; RPV steel; radiation embrittlement; property–property correlation; nuclear power plants; NPP; nuclear energy; nuclear safety; safety assessment; nuclear database; nondestructive evaluation; NDE; fracture; Charpy toughness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNKM.2010.037075

International Journal of Nuclear Knowledge Management, 2010 Vol.4 No.4, pp.332 - 338

Published online: 22 Nov 2010 *

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