Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 55b1f520-7682-43fa-a5c3-254f661dcc82
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Nondestructive Examination of Tubular Products
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1306/ML13064A108.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.66
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
hod. Ultrasonic examination is preferred when applicable, but radiographic examination using appropriate techniques will also detect unacceptable defects. The use of these techniques may be limited by size, product configuration, or material condition (coarse-grained stainless steel) in which case a surface examination method (magnetic particle or liquid penetrant) should be applied. C. REGULATORY POSITION Nondestructive examination applied to tubular products used for components of the reactor coolant pressure boundary and other safety-related systems which are designed for pressures in excess of 275 psig or temperatures in excess of 2000F should be capable of detecting unacceptable defects regardless of defect shape, orientation, or location in the product. Accordingly, to the degree practical, the examinations should include methods that apply to the entire volume of the product and should include techniques designed; to locate all types of defects. In particular, procedure&! for ultrasonic examination of pipe and tubing should provide a sensitivity that will detect randomly oriented defects that occasionally develop in pipe and tubing manufactured by extrusion, swaging, or tube-reducing processes. To increase the probability of detecting such defects, the examination requirements for tubular productsl' specified in the ASME Boiler and Pressure Code, Section Ill, "Nuclear Power Plant Components,"' should be supplemented as follows: 1. Required Examinations a. Wrought seamless and welded (without filler metal) pipe and tubing should be examined over the entire volume of the material by the ultrasonic method in accordance with ASTM E-213, "Standard Method for Ultrasonic Examination of Pipe and Tubing for Longitudinal Discontinuities, and paragraphs C.2. and C.3. below. Alternatively, eddy-current methods in accordance with NB-2554, Section 7II, ASME Code, may be used provided the material has uniform magnetic properties and the product is limited to sizes and