Fourth International Conference on Fatigue of Nuclear Reactor Components

Overview

Fatigue is a primary degradation mechanism affecting nuclear power plant components worldwide. The effective management of fatigue is important to the continued safe and reliable operation of plant components during present, long-term and next-generation operation.

This was the fourth instalment of an OECD/NEA co-sponsored conference series on fatigue. The first conference in the series was held in Napa, California in 2000 and was attended by approximately 90 fatigue experts, representing 12 countries. The second conference held in Snowbird, Utah in 2002, provided an excellent forum for the discussion of component fatigue issues. The third conference was held in Sevilla in 2004 and was attended by more than 90 experts. Since then, important research has been performed and different approaches have evolved internationally.

The main objective of the conference was to bring together the results of international research on the topic of fatigue with a special focus on the methods for evaluating environmental effects. Several countries already incorporated the results from new research into applicable codes and standards. Furthermore, many countries were requiring that environmental effects be considered by operating reactors, new reactors or both. The conference provided a good opportunity to discuss and understand the different approaches for addressing fatigue effects and the rationale that lay behind each approach.

This conference brought together the international community to discuss significant fatigue issues affecting nuclear plant operations. Technical presentations and group discussions were solicited in the following areas:

• fatigue management programmes;
• environmental fatigue, including irradiation effects and regulatory requirements;
• thermal fatigue assessment, management and operating experiences;
• high-cycle fatigue including interaction with low-cycle fatigue;
• vibration-induced fatigue;
• high-temperature fatigue in Gen IV reactors, including creep fatigue interaction;
• improvements in fatigue analysis methods;
• application of laboratory results to predict component performance, including component testing;
• fatigue monitoring;
• non-destructive techniques for fatigue cracks detection, including probability of detection;
• fatigue crack growth behaviour;
• operating experience related to fatigue management, repairs, extent of condition assessments and licensing;
• activities on codes and standards and regulations related to fatigue and life extension.