QUALITY ASSESSMENT ON FBTR REACTOR VESSEL

Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) is a 40MWt/13MWe, mixed carbide fuele d, sodium cooled, loop type reactor built at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam. The Reactor Vessel (RV) is manufac tured using modified AISI 316 austenitic stainless steel material as p er FBTR specification. The acceptance criteria for non-destructive exa mination, quality of weld, test requirement, tolerances on various dim ensions etc. specified in FBTR specification are very stringent compar ed to ASME Section III, Div. I, Class I components and other internati onal codes applicable to pressure vessels and nuclear power plant comp onents. During the manufacture and inspection of the Reactor Vessel, a systematic approach has been adopted towards the improvement of vario us procedures to achieve very high reliability of the Reactor Vessel. This paper explains the details of results achieved on fabrication tol erances, destructive and non-destructive testing on materials and weld s and final tests on the reactor vessel. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd .