The purpose of the study reported in SKl Technical Report 93:39 was to evaluate qualification methods for application to components intended to be installed in the containment of nuclear power plants. The study included application of Arrhenius' criterion for thermal aging as well as methodologies for updating (curve-matching, ongoing qualification). This report reviews the results of complementary tests, including extended thermal aging at high temperatures and LOCA (Loss of Coolant Accident) testing of a selection of components which were aged in the program reported in SKl 93:39.
The purpose of the extended thermal aging has been to achieve some complementary points on the aging degradation curves and to ensure that the LOCA tests include some severely degraded components. The purpose of the LOCA tests is primarily to validate the suitability of using mechanical properties as indicators of the effect of aging by evaluating the correlation between the mechanical behavior after aging and the dielectric behavior at LOCA.
In addition, the complementary study also included measurement of chemical degradation by use of Oxygen Induction Timeffemperature (OIT/OITe) and microcalorimetric methods.