Ageing Mechanisms and Influencing Factors of Steam Generator in PWR Nuclear Power Plants

Steam generator is one of the major nuclear power plant components important to safety, and its tube bundle is also the weakest site susceptible to failures. Based on the previous worldwide operating histories and experimental research results, the ageing mechanisms and their influencing factors of steam generators are addressed, and the correlations among the ageing mechanisms, ageing defects and ageing causes are identified in this paper, which would have the reference value for the establishment of ageing management programs, implementation of periodic safety review (PSR) and the systematic life management of steam generators in pressurized water reactors in China.