As our world continues to move forward, advances in technology play a vital role in the growth of the energy landscape. Nuclear power is a critical aspect of that global energy landscape and never before has the demand for our world's nuclear reactors been so high, both in production and social obligation. The catastrophe at Fukushima-Daiichi shed an ominous, dark cloud over the nuclear industry and with an aging fleet of nuclear power plants the high aspirations for safety is paramount. It is extremely difficult to plan and engineer for Mother Nature, however, the assessment of major components for stress corrosion cracking must be made a priority. .
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is described as the failure mechanism for which the crack development and crack growth of certain alloys under a tensile stress and corrosive environment occurs. Intergranular stress corrosion cracking or irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) is a universal problem in light water nuclear reactors which can lead to catastrophic component failure (Bruemmer & Was, 1994, pg 326). IASCC is due to the changes in the grain boundary composition, microstructure or water chemistry and has significant potential for corrosion resulting in accelerated Intergranular cracking in austenitic alloys by neutron irradiation (Bruemmer & Was, 1994, pg 326). .
Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) can occur as a result of the interaction between many physical, electrochemical and metallurgical factors. SCC is associated with the brittle fracture properties characterized by rapid crack propagation without significant plastic deformation. In order for SCC to occur, the conditions must be appropriately set. SCC can occur for many alloys but not necessarily in all environments. So how does SCC occur then?.
There are three conditions that set the stage for SCC to occur: susceptible material (austenitic stainless steel), tensile stress and oxygen.
