Investigation of the Influence of Neutron Irradiation on Cladded Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel Blocks by Magnetic Adaptive Testing

The influence of neutron irradiation degradation on reactor pressure vessel steel was investigated. Large blocks were irradiated by neutrons in the BR2 reactor at a low irradiation temperature. They were measured by a nondestructive magnetic method, magnetic adaptive testing, before and after the neutron irradiation. It was shown that the modification of the magnetic parameters due to the neutron irradiation was well detectable by this nondestructive method. It was also shown that the influence of neutron irradiation could be detected with a reasonable signal-to-noise ratio through the cladding. The present results are considered as a first step towards the application of magnetic adaptive testing in the nuclear industry.