PRESSURE-VESSEL NOZZLE REPAIR

The dissimilar metal weldment joining Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) nozzles to safe-ends is one of the more complex configurations in the entire recirculation system. Field installation techniques typically specify that a special shop weld deposit (butter) be placed on the end of the nozzle prior to final shop post-weld heat treatment (PWHT) in order to facilitate field welding without PWHT. The shop weld deposit is normally an Inconel or stainless steel and does not require additional field heat treatment after welding. Soon BWR vessels used Inconel 182 manual shielded metal arc electrodes to weld deposit the butter. This manual process produces a deposit which is now known to be susceptible to intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC), especially under severe conditions such as crevices and/or cold work. Recently two BWRs have experienced, IGSCC of I-182 weld deposits in which axially oriented cracking progressed into the low alloy steel nozzle material. Although IGSCC extension from weld butter into nozzle material has been observed in other BWRs, these cases appeared to be the deepest. At Taiwan Power Company's Chinshan Unit 2 a repair has been completed in which the defect was verified visually, the old butter and defect removed by machining, the butter restored with PWHT and a new safe-end installed. At Carolina Power and Light's Brunswick Unit 1 a large number of deep axial indications have been identified on nine nozzles by ultrasonic examination. Weld overlay repairs using a temperbead procedure have been completed as a temporary measure while preparing for a permanent repair at the next refueling outage. Details of the cracking observations and repair activities are discussed. Concurrent repairs/replacements of safe-ends will also be described.