Regulatory Experience of Leak-Before-Break (LBB) Technology to the High Energy Piping Systems in Korea

The application of the leak-before-break (LBB) technology to the newly constructed pressurized water reactors (PWRs) has been approved for the several high energy piping systems inside containment in Korea. The main purpose of the LBB application for these systems at the design stage is the removal of the dynamic effects associated with the postulated double-ended guillotine break (DEGB) from design basis loads, as well as to the elimination of the pipe whip restraints and jet impingement barriers so as to increase the access the inspections. LBB technology is based on the low probability of pipe ruptures in the candidate piping systems using fracture mechanics and the insights from the state-of-the-art technology including operating experience. The procedures for LBB application is fundamentally based on the Unite States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) requirements as detailed in the standard review plan (SRP) 3.6.3. However, a number of the additional requirements and issues are not specified in the review procedure during regulatory review were imposed and addressed during the review process. The regulatory review is focused on the confirmation on the methods for the elements in the screening criteria and several technical concerns on the determination of material properties, the validation of crack evaluation methods and leak rate estimation in the LBB evaluation considering the adequate margin. Although the application of the LBB has been approved by the safety authority for some high energy systems, the validation of LBB is continuously maintained in consideration of operating experience. In this paper, the regulatory positions for LBB application are described for the areas of screening criteria, leak rate estimation including the capability of leak detection system, material properties, load combination, crack stability methods, and margins in the crack stability evaluations. The issues encountered during the regulatory review such as the dynamic fracture test to consider the dynamic strain aging (DSA) of carbon and low alloy steel, thermal stratification and striping in the pressurizer surge line, water/steam hammer in main steam lines, and estimation of the crack opening area at the pipe-to-nozzle interface considering the asymmetry are also introduced. In addition, several regulatory actions to improve the reliability in the capability of leak detection systems and to clarify the screening criteria such as the corrosion resistance is provided.