Publications
Summary Report of Cable Aging and Performance Data for Fiscal Year 2014
As part of the Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program, science - based engineering approaches were employed to address cable degradation behavior under a range of exposure environments. Experiments were conducted with the goal to provide best guidance for aged material states, remaining life and expected performance under specific conditions for a range of cable materials. Generic engineering tests , which focus on rapid accelerated aging and tensile elongation , were combined with complementar y methods from polymer degradation science. Sandia's approach, building on previous years' efforts, enabled the generation of some of the necessary data supporting the development of improved lifetime predictions models, which incorporate known material b ehaviors and feedback from field - returned 'aged' cable materials. Oxidation rate measurements have provided access to material behavior under low dose rate thermal conditions, where slow degradation is not apparent in mechanical property changes. Such da ta have shown aging kinetics consistent with established radiati on - thermal degradation models. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We gratefully acknowledge ongoing technical support at the LICA facility and extensive sample handling provided by Maryla Wasiolek and Don Hans on. Sam Durbin and Patrick Mattie are recognized for valuable guidance throughout the year and assistance in the preparation of the final report. Doug Brunson is appreciated for sample analysis, compilation and plotting of experimental data.