Leak-before-break application in US light water reactor balance-of-plant piping

This paper describes the criteria and methodology for a leak-before-break (LBB) program for high energy balance-of-plant (BOP) nuclear piping in the United States. LBB, the analytical demonstration that high toughness piping will leak detectably before catastrophic failure, can be applied to any operational or pre-operational light water reactor plant to minimize pipe rupture hardware and to discount pipe rupture dynamic effects.

The general methodology described herein, encompasses applicable US NRC regulatory requirements and incorporates experience gained in the licensing process of actual LBB programs. First, candidate piping systems must be carefully screened to verify that they are not subject to failure by phenomena that would adversely affect the accurate evaluation of flaws. Next, pipe stresses, material properties, and leak detection capabilities are gathered for the fracture mechanics and fluid mechanics analyses. At the piping locations which have the least favorable combination of material properties and stress, a crack is postulated which is of sufficient size that the resulting leakage will be detected by installed leak detection systems. Finally, LBB is demonstrated if the postulated crack remains stable even if a seismic event takes place before the crack is discovered and repaired. An LBB example is presented in this paper for a generic pressurizer surge line, and reflects the consideration of flow stratification on LBB analyses.