| Butt-fusing Procedures and Qualifications of High Density Polyethylene Pipe for Nuclear Power Plant Application |
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Young-Jin Oh*, Heung-Bae Park*, Ho-Sang Shin**† |
Correspondence:
Ho-Sang Shin,
Email: hsshin@kins.re.kr
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| Abstract |
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In nuclear power plants, lined carbon steel pipes or PCCPs (pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipes) have been widely used for sea water transport systems. However, de-bonding of linings and oxidation of PCCP could make problems in aged NPPs (nuclear power plants). Recently at several NPPs in the United States, the PCCPs or lined carbon steel pipes of the sea water or raw water system have been replaced with HDPE (high density polyethylene) pipes, which have outstanding resistance to oxidation and seismic loading. ASME B&PV Code committee developed Code Case N-755, which describes rules for the construction of buried Safety Class 3 polyethylene pressure piping systems. Although US NRC permitted HDPE materials for Class 3 buried piping, their permission was limited to only 10-year operation because of several concerns including the quality of fusion zone of HDPE. In this study, various requirements for fusion qualification test of HDPE and some regulatory issues raised during HDPE application review in foreign NPPs are introduced. |
| Key Words:
High density polyethylene (HDPE), Code case N-755, Fusion qualification procedure |
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