PNNL

Abstract

Piping welds in the pressure boundary of light water reactors (LWRs) are subject to a volumetric examination based on Section XI of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Due to access limitations and high background radiation levels, the technique used is primarily ultrasonic rather than radiographic. Many of the austenitic welds in safety-related piping systems provide limited access to both sides of the weld, so a far-side examination is necessary. Historically, far-side inspections have performed poorly because of the coarse and elongated grains that make up the microstructures of austenitic weldments. The large grains cause the ultrasound to be scattered, attenuated, and redirected. Additionally, grain boundaries or weld geometry may reflect coherent ultrasonic echoes, making flaw detection and discrimination a more challenging endeavor. Previous studies conducted at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on ultrasonic far-side examinations in austenitic piping welds involved the application of conventional transducers, use of low-frequency Synthetic Aperture Focusing Techniques (SAFT), and ultrasonic phased-array (PA) methods on specimens containing implanted thermal fatigue cracks and machined reflectors [1-2]. From these studies, PA inspection provided the best results, detecting nearly all of the flaws from the far side. These results were presented at the Fifth International Conference on NDE in Relation to Structural Integrity for Nuclear and Pressurised Components in 2006. This led to an invitation to examine field-removed specimens containing service-induced intergranular stress corrosion cracks (IGSCC) at the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) Center, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Results from this activity are presented.