Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 4a45938b-46f4-4b26-9191-2914fcf357f1
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Inservice Inspection of Pressurized Water Reactor Steam Generator Tubes (Rev. 1)
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0037/ML003740256.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.83
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
be designed to facilitate inspection of all tubes. b. Sufficient access should be provided to perform these inspections and to plug tubes as required. c. Pre-job planning should be undertaken to make provisions for inspections that ensure that personnel radiation exposure is maintained as low as is reasonably achievable. 2. Inspection Equipment and Procedures a. Inservice inspection should include nondestruc tive examination by eddy current testing or equivalent techniques. The equipment should be capable of locating and identifying stress corrosion cracks and tube wall thinning by chemical wastage, mechanical damage, or other causes. bý. The inspection equipment should be sensitive enough to detect imperfections 20% or more through the tube wall. c. A suitable eddy current inspection system could consist of (1) an internal sensing probe, (2) a two-channel eddy current tester, (3) a viewing oscillo scope, (4) a conventional two-channel strip chart recorder, and (5) a magnetic tape data recorder. d. Examination resulti and reports should be stored and maintained for the operating life of the facility. e. Standards consisting of similar as-manufactured steam generator tubing with known imperfections should be used to establish sensitivity and to calibrate the equipment. Where practical, these standards should include reference flaws that simulate the length, depth, and shape of actual imperfections that are characteristic of past experience. Sf.The equipment should be capable of examining the entire length of the tubes.' 'For U-bend designs, entry for the hot-leg side with examination from the point of entry completely around the U-bend to the top support of the cold leg is considered sufficient to constitute a tube inspection. g. The equipment used for eddy current testing should be designed so that operators may be shielded or the equipment may be operated remotely to limit operator exposure to radiation. h. Personnel engaged in data taking and interpret ing the