Critical Reflections about Doel3 & Tihange2

Integrity reactor vessels Doel 3 and Tihange 2

Page: 23

8 Minor issues

Figure 17: Effect of the flaws on the temperature distribution of the vessel wall.

1. Temperature gradient over the vessel wall in the flaw zone. The reactor vessel is ther- mally isolated such that the temperature gradient over the vessel wall amounts about 10 o C. However, the zones with a high density of flaws obstructs the thermal flow and a higher temperature gradient occurs at these areas, which leads to increased shear stresses (approx. 2.5 MPa / o C) at the crack tips. Figure 17 illustrates that effect.

R.Boonen & J.Peirs

May 18, 2017