ML20069G278

Notifies NRC That on 940522 Mit Nuclear Reactor Lab Completed Installation & Operation of in-core Assembly for Study of irradiation-assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking

ML20069G278
Person / Time
Site:	MIT Nuclear Research Reactor
Issue date:	06/01/1994
From:	Bernard J NUCLEAR REACTOR LABORATORY
To:	NRC OFFICE OF INFORMATION RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (IRM)
References
NUDOCS 9406090275
Download: ML20069G278 (1)

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$IAF NUCLEAR REACTOR LABORATORY h.f%50.M

, AN INTERDEPARTMENTAL CENTER OF MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

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O K HARLING 138 Alt,any Street Cambodge. Mass 02139-4296 J A BERNARD.JR.

Director TeMax No- (617) 253-7300 Director of Reactor Operations Telen No. 92-1473 MIT-CAM Tel No. (617) 253-4202 June 1,1994 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, D.C. 20555 Attn: Document Control Desk [# 80

Subject:

Irradiation-Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking Experiment Gentlemen:

• We are pleased to notify you that on 22 May 1994, the MIT Nuclear Reactor laboratory completed installation and initial operation of an in-core assembly for the study of irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking. This assembly is capable of performing '

actively loaded tensile tests and on 05/22/94 we completed the first such in-core test. The strain (or extension) rate was 210-7 inches / inch-second. The reactor was at power (4.0-4.5 MW) and the water surrounding the tensile specimens was at PWR conditions,280 C and 1700 psi. The entire facility, which fits in a space of one fuel assembly position, is thermally isolated from the core proper. To our knowledge, this is the Grst time that an actively loaded tensile specimen has been subject to a slow strain rate test in an operating reactor. As such, we have replicated the water chemistry, neutron Dux, and radiation fields to which metals are exposed in large reactors and we expect to learn more about the phenomenon ofirradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking. We expect to perform a test approximately every two weeks.

This program has been in planning for almost six years. The various safety evaluation and quality assurance documents are on file at the NRL and have, on various occasions, been reviewed by NRC personnel. Additional inforrnation will be provided in the annual report due 08/31/94.

Sincerely,

.wa John A. Bernard, Ph.D.

Director of Reactor Operations MIT Research Reactor JAIUCRM ,

ec: USNRC - Project Manager, NRR/PDNP USNRC - Region 1 - Chief.

Efnuents Radiation Protection Section (ERPS)

FRSSB/DRSS D 09 9406090275 940601 PDR ADOCK 05000020 P PDR

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