Abstract :
At JAERI, structural safety research, in which issues of aging and structural integrity of LWR components are involved, has been performed as one of the items of safety research prescribed in the national 5-Year Safety Research Program determined by the Nuclear Safety Commission. In order to achieve the aims of the program, research on aging mechanism and prediction, detection and evaluation of aging, and structural integrity evaluation of aged components are in progress. Reactor pressure vessel, concrete structures and electrical cables were identified as key components to be investigated in the research. This paper presents an overview of the progress of the research program. In addition, results of a leak-before-break (LBB) research program which was carried out as a part of the structural safety research program are described.
