Computation and measurement of calandria tube sag in pressurized heavy water reactor

Calandria tubes and liquid injection shutdown system nozzles in a pressurized heavy water reactor are to sag due to irradiation creep and growth during plant operation. When the sag of calandria tube becomes bigger, the calandria tube possibly comes in contact with liquid injection shutdown system tube crossing beneath the calandria tube. The contact subsequently may cause the damage on the calandria tube resulting in unpredicted outage of the plant. It is therefore necessary to check the gap between the two tubes in order to periodically confirm no contact by using a proper measure during the plant life. An ultrasonic gap measurement probe assembly which can be inserted into two viewing ports of the calandria was developed in Korea and utilized to measure the sag between both tubes in the reactor. It was found that the centerlines of calandria tubes and liquid injection shutdown system tubes can be precisely detected by ultrasonic wave. The gaps between two tubes were easily obtained from the relative distance of the measured centerline elevations of the tubes. Based on the irradiation creep equation and the measurement data, a computer program to calculate the sags was also developed. With the computer program, the sag at the end of plant life was predicted.