Current research on environmentally assisted cracking in light water reactor environments Original Research Article

The effect of dissolved oxygen level on fatigue life of austenitic stainless steels is discussed and the results of a detailed study of the effect of the environment on the growth of cracks during fatigue initiation are presented. Initial test results are given for specimens irradiated in the Halden reactor. Impurities introduced by shielded metal arc welding that may affect susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking are described. Results of calculations of residual stresses in core shroud weldments are summarized. Crack growth rates of high-nickel alloys under cyclic loading with R ratios from 0.2 to 0.95 in high-purity water that contains <5 and 300 ppb dissolved oxygen at 240, 289, and 320°C, are summarized.