SIXTH INTERIM STATUS REPORT: MODEL 9975 PCV O-RING FIXTURE LONG-TERM LEAK PERFORMANCE

A series of experiments to monitor the aging performance of Viton{reg_sign} GLT O-rings used in the Model 9975 package has been ongoing for seven years at the Savannah River National Laboratory. Seventy tests using mock-ups of 9975 Primary Containment Vessels (PCVs) were assembled and heated to temperatures ranging from 200 to 450 F. They were leak-tested initially and have been tested periodically to determine if they meet the criterion of leak-tightness defined in ANSI standard N14.5-97. Fourteen additional tests were initiated in 2008 with GLT-S O-rings heated to temperatures ranging from 200 to 400 F. High temperature aging continues for 33 GLT O-ring fixtures at 200-300 F. Room temperature leak test failures have been experienced in all of the GLT O-ring fixtures aging at 350 F and higher temperatures, and in 7 fixtures aging at 300 F. No failures have yet been observed in GLT O-ring fixtures aging at 200 F for 41-60 months, which is still bounding to O-ring temperatures during storage in K-Area Complex (KAC). Based on expectations that the fixtures aging at 200 F will remain leak-tight for a significant period yet to come, 2 additional fixtures began aging within the past year at an intermediate temperature of 270 F, with hopes that they may leak before the 200 F fixtures. High temperature aging continues for 6 GLT-S O-ring fixtures at 200-300 F. Room temperature leak test failures have been experienced in all 8 of the GLT-S O-ring fixtures aging at 350 and 400 F. No failures have yet been observed in GLT-S O-ring fixtures aging at 200-300 F for up to 26 months. For O-ring fixtures that have failed the room temperature leak test and been disassembled, the Orings displayed a compression set ranging from 51-96%. This is greater than seen to date for packages inspected during KAC field surveillance (24% average). For GLT O-rings, separate service life estimates have been made based on the O-ring fixture leak test data and based on compression stress relaxation (CSR) data. These two predictive models show reasonable agreement at higher temperatures (350-400 F). However, at 300 F, the room temperature leak test failures to date experienced longer aging times than predicted by the CSR-based model. This suggests that extrapolations of the CSR model predictions to temperatures below 300 F will provide a conservative prediction of service life relative to the leak rate criterion. Leak test failure data at lower temperatures are needed to verify this apparent trend. Insufficient failure data exist currently to perform a similar comparison for GLT-S O-rings. Aging and periodic leak testing will continue for the remaining fixtures