Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: a2b67b51-f5fe-4c86-a879-f0e439601f7f
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Format and Content of Report for Thermal Annealing of Reactor Pressure Vessels
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0037/ML003740052.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.162
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
sel should include the detailed monitoring, inspections, and tests proposed to demon strate that the limitations in the operating plan on tem peratures, heat treatment times, temperature profiles, and stresses have not been exceeded. The detailed monitoring, inspections, and tests should also establish the thermal annealing time and temperature to be used in quantifying the fracture toughness recovery. The program should also demonstrate that the annealing operation has not degraded the reactor vessel, at tached piping or appurtenances, or the adjacent con crete structures to a degree that could affect the safe operation of the reactor after annealing. The program should identify the limiting parame ters established for the thermal annealing operation conditions, identify the physical measurements and tests to be made to ensure that these conditions are not exceeded, describe the instrumentation to be used for making these measurements and tests, and state the quality assurance provisions to be applied. 2.1 Monitoring the Annealing Process This section should identify the measurements, with their locations, that will be used to monitor the annealing process and to make certain that the pro posed annealing conditions evaluated in the operating plan (see Section 1.5 of this guide) are not exceeded. Temperature measurements should be made at suffi cient locations to establish temperature profiles for both the inside and outside surfaces of the reactor ves sel. These measurements should be made for the en tire length of the vessel along axial directions where it is physically possible, at a minimum of two different azimuthal locations (which should include the top and bottom positions of the heating zone), at locations within the heating zone where there may be cold spots (e.g., at joints between the heaters), at locations on each nozzle, and on any other component that is ex pected to be significantly affected by the annealing treatment. Measurements should be made