Degradation and Failure Characteristics of NPP Containment Protective Coating Systems

Nuclear power plants (NPPs) must ensure that the emergency core cooling system (ECCS) or safety-related containment spray system (CSS) remains capable of performing its design safety function throughout the life of the plant. This requires ensuring that long-term core cooling can be maintained following a postulated loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). Adequate safety operation can be impaired if the protective coatings which have been applied to the concrete and steel structures within the primary containment fail, producing transportable debris which could then accumulate on BWR ECCS suction strainers or PWR ECCS sump debris screens located within the containment. This document will present the data collected during the investigation of coating specimens from plants