Steam Generator Tube Integrity
摘要
The stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in steam generators (SG) tubes of alloy 600 has been responsible for flaws initiation and propagation that jeopardize the structural and leakage integrity of the tubes. To avoid rupture or excessive leakage, a periodic inservice examination of the tubes with the eddy current test (ECT) becomes necessary. Even with about 5000 tubes, as the number of tubes removed from operation increases the SG lifetime is reduced. Based on recommendation from the industry, plants have implemented the SG Program, which rely on actions to mitigate SCC, inspections, tests, and analyses to calculate the probabilities of tube bursts and leakage throughout an operating cycle. An example describes the tube plugging and sleeving processes and shows the steps of the structural integrity analysis of the tube bundle. The results have shown that the SG program is effective to ensure the safe operation of the component.