Preliminary fracture analysis of the core pressure boundary tube for the Advanced Neutron Source Research Reactor

The outer core pressure boundary tube (CPBT) of the Advanced neutron Source (ANS) reactor being designed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is currently specified as being composed of 6061-T6 aluminum. ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code fracture analysis rules for nuclear components are based on the use of ferritic steels; the expressions, tables, charts and equations were all developed from tests and analyses conducted for ferritic steels. Because of the nature of the Code, design with thin aluminum requires analytical approaches that do not directly follow the Code. The intent of this report is to present a methodology comparable to the ASME Code for ensuring the prevention of nonductile fracture of the CPBT in the ANS reactor. 6061-T6 aluminum is known to be a relatively brittle material; the linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) approach is utilized to determine allowable flaw sizes for the CPBT. A J-analysis following the procedure developed by the Electric Power Research Institute was conducted as a check; the results matched those for the LEFM analysis for the cases analyzed. Since 6061-T6 is known to embrittle when irradiated, the reduction in K{sub Q} due to irradiation is considered in the analysis. In anticipation of probable requirements regarding maximum allowable flaw size, a survey of nondestructive inspection capabilities is also presented. A discussion of probabilistic fracture mechanics approaches, principally Monte Carlo techniques, is included in this report as an introduction to what quantifying the probability of nonductile failure of the CPBT may entail