Reactor pressure vessel

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in a nuclear power plant is the pressure vessel containing the nuclear
reactor coolant, core shroud, and the reactor core.

Classification of nuclear power reactors

A typical RPV

Russian Soviet era RBMK reactors have each fuel assembly enclosed in an individual 8 cm diameter
pipe rather than having a pressure vessel. Whilst most power reactors do have a pressure vessel, they
are generally classified by the type of coolant rather than by the configuration of the vessel used to
contain the coolant. The classifications are:

Light-water reactor - Includes the pressurized water reactor and the boiling water reactor. Most
nuclear power reactors are of this type.

Graphite-moderated reactor - Includes the Chernobyl reactor (RBMK), which has a highly unusual
reactor configuration compared to the vast majority of civilian nuclear power plants in Russia and
around the world.

Gas cooled thermal reactor - Includes the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor, the gas cooled fast breeder
reactor, and the high temperature gas cooled reactor. An example of a gas cooled reactor is the British
Magnox.

Pressurized heavy-water reactor - utilizes heavy water, or water with a higher than normal proportion
of the hydrogen isotope deuterium, in some manner. However, D2O (heavy water) is more expensive
and may be used as a main component, but not necessarily as a coolant in this case. An example of a
heavy water reactor is Canada's CANDU reactor.

Liquid metal cooled reactor - utilizes a liquid metal, such as sodium or a lead-bismuth alloy to cool
the reactor core.

Molten salt reactor - salts, typically fluorides of the alkali metals and of the alkali earth metals, are
used as the coolant. Operation is similar to metal-cooled reactors with high temperatures and low
pressures, reducing pressure exerted on the reactor vessel versus water or steam-cooled designs.

Of the main classes of reactor with a pressure vessel, the pressurized water reactor is unique in that
the pressure vessel suffers significant neutron irradiation (called fluence) during operation, and may
become brittle over time as a result. In particular, the larger pressure vessel of the boiling water
reactor is better shielded from the neutron flux, so although more expensive to manufacture in the
first place because of this extra size, it has an advantage in not needing annealing to extend its life.
Annealing of pressurized water reactor vessels to extend their working life is a complex and high-value
technology being actively developed by both nuclear service providers (AREVA) and operators of
pressurized water reactors.

Components of a pressurized water reactor pressure vessel

A reactor vessel body and vessel head being shipped to Dresden Generating Station

All pressurized water reactor pressure vessels share some features regardless of the particular
design.

Reactor vessel body

The reactor vessel body is the largest component and is designed to contain the fuel assembly,
coolant, and fittings to support coolant flow and support structures. It is usually cylindrical in shape
and is open at the top to allow the fuel to be loaded.

Reactor vessel head

A reactor vessel head for a pressurized water reactor

This structure is attached to the top of the reactor vessel body. It contains penetrations to allow the
control rod driving mechanism to attach to the control rods in the fuel assembly. The coolant level
measurement probe also enters the vessel through the reactor vessel head.

Fuel assembly

The fuel assembly of nuclear fuel usually consisting of uranium or uranium–plutonium mixes. It is
usually a rectangular block of gridded fuel rods.

Neutron reflector or absorber

Protecting the inside of the vessel from fast neutrons escaping from the fuel assembly is a cylindrical
shield wrapped around the fuel assembly. Reflectors send the neutrons back into the fuel assembly
to better utilize the fuel. The main purpose though is to protect the vessel from fast neutron induced
damage that can make the vessel brittle and reduce its useful life.

Materials
The RPV provides a critical role in safety of the PWR reactor and the materials used must be able to
contain the reactor core at elevated temperatures and pressures.[1][2] The materials used in the
cylindrical shell of the vessels have evolved over time, but in general they consist of low-alloy ferritic
steels clad with 3–10 mm of austenitic stainless steel. The stainless steel cladding is primarily used in
locations that come into contact with coolant in order to minimize corrosion.[2] Through the mid-
1960, SA-302, Grade B, a molybdenum-manganese plate steel, was used in the body of the vessel.[2]
As changing designs required larger pressure vessels, the addition of nickel to this alloy by roughly
0.4-0.7 wt% was required to increase the yield strength.[2] Other common steel alloys include SA-533
Grade B Class 1 and SA-508 Class 2. Both materials have main alloying elements of nickel,
manganese, molybdenum, and silicon, but the latter also includes 0.25-0.45 wt% chromium.[2] All
alloys listed in the reference also have >0.04 wt% sulfur.[2] Low-alloyed NiMoMn ferritic steels are
attractive for this purpose due to their high thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion,
properties that make them resistant to thermal shock.[3] However, when considering the properties
of these steels, one must take into account the response it will have to radiation damage. Due to
harsh conditions, the RPV cylinder shell material is often the lifetime-limiting component for a
nuclear reactor.[1] Understanding the effects radiation has on the microstructure in addition to the
physical and mechanical properties will allow scientists to design alloys more resistant to radiation
damage.

In 2018 Rosatom announced it had developed a thermal annealing technique for RPVs which
ameliorates radiation damage and extends service life by between 15 and 30 years. This had been
demonstrated on unit 1 of the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant.[4]

Radiation damage in metals and alloys

Due to the nature of nuclear energy generation, the materials used in the RPV are constantly
bombarded by high-energy particles. These particles can either be neutrons or fragments of an atom
created by a fission event.[5] When one of these particles collides with an atom in the material, it will
transfer some of its kinetic energy and knock the atom out of its position in the lattice. When this
happens, this primary "knock-on" atom (PKA) that was displaced and the energetic particle may
rebound and collide with other atoms in the lattice. This creates a chain reaction that can cause many
atoms to be displaced from their original positions.[5] This atomic movement leads to the creation of
many types of defects.[5] The accumulation of various defects can cause microstructural changes
that can lead to a degradation in macroscopic properties. As previously mentioned, the chain
reaction caused by a PKA often leaves a trail of vacancies and clusters of defects at the edge. This is
called a displacement cascade.[6] The vacancy-rich core of a displacement cascade can also
collapse into dislocation loops. Due to irradiation, materials tend to develop a higher concentration of
defects than is present in typical steels, and the high temperatures of operation induce migration of
the defects. This can cause things like recombination of interstitials and vacancies and clustering of
like defects, which can either create or dissolve precipitates or voids. Examples of sinks, or
thermodynamically favorable places for defects to migrate to, are grain boundaries, voids, incoherent
precipitates, and dislocations.
Radiation-induced segregation

Interactions between defects and alloying elements can cause a redistribution of atoms at sinks such
as grain boundaries. The physical effect that can occur is that certain elements will be enriched or
depleted in these areas, which often leads to embrittlement of grain boundaries or other detrimental
property changes. This is because there is a flux of vacancies towards a sink and a flux of atoms away
or toward the sink that may have varying diffusion coefficients. The uneven rates of diffusion cause a
concentration of atoms that will not necessarily be in the correct alloy proportions. It has been
reported that nickel, copper and silicon tend to be enriched at sinks, whereas chromium tends to be
depleted.[6][7] The resulting physical effect is changing chemical composition at grain boundaries or
around voids/incoherent precipitates, which also serve as sinks.

Formation of voids and bubbles

Voids form due to a clustering of vacancies and generally form more readily at higher temperatures.
Bubbles are simply voids filled with gas; they will occur if transmutation reactions are present,
meaning a gas is formed due to the breakdown of an atom caused by neutron bombardment.[6] The
biggest issue with voids and bubbles is dimensional instability. An example of where this would be
very problematic is areas with tight dimensional tolerances, such as threads on a fastener.

Irradiation hardening

The creation of defects such as voids or bubbles, precipitates, dislocation loops or lines, and defect
clusters can strengthen a material because they block dislocation motion. The movement of
dislocations is what leads to plastic deformation. While this hardens the material, the downside is
that there is a loss of ductility. Losing ductility, or increasing brittleness, is dangerous in RPVs
because it can lead to catastrophic failure without warning. When ductile materials fail, there is
substantial deformation before failure, which can be monitored. Brittle materials will crack and
explode when under pressure without much prior deformation, so there is not much engineers can do
to detect when the material is about to fail. A particularly damaging element in steels that can lead to
hardening or embrittlement is copper. Cu-rich precipitates are very small (1-3 nm) so they are
effective at pinning dislocations.[6][8] It has been recognized that copper is the dominant detrimental
element in steels used for RPVs, especially if the impurity level is greater than 0.1 wt%.[8] Thus, the
development of "clean" steels, or ones with very low impurity levels, is important in reducing
radiation-induced hardening.

Creep

Creep occurs when a material is held under levels of stress below their yield stress that causes
plastic deformation over time. This is especially prevalent when a material is exposed to high stresses
at elevated temperatures, because diffusion and dislocation motion occur more rapidly. Irradiation
can cause creep due to the interaction between stress and the development of the microstructure.[6]
In this case, the increase in diffusivities due to high temperatures is not a very strong factor for
causing creep. The dimensions of the material are likely to increase in the direction of the applied
stress due to the creation of dislocation loops around defects that formed due to radiation damage.
Furthermore, applied stress can allow interstitials to be more readily absorbed in dislocation, which
assists in dislocation climb. When dislocations are able to climb, excess vacancies are left, which
can also lead to swelling.[6]

Irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking

Due to the embrittlement of grain boundaries or other defects that can serve as crack initiators, the
addition of radiation attack at cracks can cause intergranular stress corrosion cracking. The main
environmental stressor that forms due to radiation is hydrogen embrittlement at crack tips. Hydrogen
ions are created when radiation splits water molecules, which is present because water is the coolant
in PWRs, into OH− and H+. There are several suspected mechanisms that explain hydrogen
embrittlement, three of which are the decohesion mechanism, the pressure theory, and the hydrogen
attack method. In the decohesion mechanism, it is thought that the accumulation of hydrogen ions
reduces the metal-to-metal bond strength, which makes it easier to cleave atoms apart.[6] The
pressure theory is the idea that hydrogen can precipitate as a gas at internal defects and create
bubbles within the material. The stress caused by the expanding bubble in addition to the applied
stress is what lowers the overall stress required to fracture the material.[6] The hydrogen attack
method is similar to the pressure theory, but in this case it is suspected that the hydrogen reacts with
carbon in the steel to form methane, which then forms blisters and bubbles at the surface. In this
case, the added stress by the bubbles is enhanced by the decarburization of the steel, which
weakens the metal.[6] In addition to hydrogen embrittlement, radiation induced creep can cause the
grain boundaries to slide against each other. This destabilizes the grain boundaries even further,
making it easier for a crack to propagate along its length.[6]

Designing radiation-resistant materials for reactor pressure vessels

Very aggressive environments require novel materials approaches in order to combat declines in
mechanical properties over time. One method researchers have sought to use is introducing features
to stabilize displaced atoms. This can be done by adding grain boundaries, oversized solutes, or small
oxide dispersants to minimize defect movement.[5][6] By doing this, there would be less radiation-
induced segregation of elements, which would in turn lead to more ductile grain boundaries and less
intergranular stress corrosion cracking. Blocking dislocation and defect movement would also help to
increase the resistance to radiation assisted creep. Attempts have been reported of instituting yttrium
oxides to block dislocation motion, but it was found that technological implementation posed a
greater challenge than expected.[5] Further research is required to continue improving the radiation
damage resistance of structural materials used in nuclear power plants.