Summary and conclusions of a program addressing aging of nuclear power plant concrete structures

Research has been conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to address aging management of nuclear power plant concrete structures. The purpose w as to identify potential structural safety issues and acceptance criteria f or use in continued service assessments. The focus of this program was on s tructural integrity rather than on leaktightness or pressure retention of c oncrete structures. Primary program accomplishments include formulation of a Structural Materials Information Center that contains data and informatio n on the time Variation of material properties under the influence of perti nent environmental stressors and aging factors for 144 materials, an aging assessment methodology to identify critical structures and degradation fact ors that can potentially impact their performance, guidelines and evaluatio n criteria for use in condition assessments of reinforced concrete structur es, and a reliability-based methodology for current condition assessments a nd estimations of future performance of reinforced concrete nuclear power p lant structures. In addition, in-depth evaluations were conducted of severa l nondestructive evaluation and repair-related technologies to develop guid ance on their applicability. Published by Elsevier Science S.A.