Progress With the International Pipe Failure Data Exchange Project

Certain member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2002 established the OECD Pipe Failure Data Exchange Project (OPDE) to produce an international database on the piping service experience applicable to commercial nuclear power plants. OPDE is operated under the umbrella of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). The Project collects pipe failure data including service-induced wall thinning, part through-wall crack, pinhole leak, leak, and rupture/severance (i.e., events involving large leak rates up to and beyond the make-up capacity of engineered safeguards systems). The part through-wall events include degradation in excess of code allowable for pipe wall thinning or crack depth. OPDE also addresses such degradation that could have generic implications regarding the reliability of in-service inspection. At the end of 2006 the OPDE database included approximately 3,700 records on pipe failure affecting ASME Code Class 1 through 3 and non-Code piping. This paper summarizes the unique data quality considerations that are associated with the reporting and recording of piping component degradation and failure. The paper also summarizes the database content and puts it in perspective relative to past efforts to systematically collect and evaluate service experience data on piping performance.Copyright © 2007 by ASME