Experience of vindicating extension of the design lifetime of the pipelines in nuclear power plants with fast neutron reactors

An approach to extension of the design lifetime of pipelines in fast neutron reactors to 45 years of operation is proposed. For this purpose, a nondestructive method for testing metal under creep under operating conditions without using specimens is developed. The method is based on long-lasting indentation of a ball indenter in the most heavily loaded areas of the pipelines. A relation between the tensile creep and indentation creep parameters is obtained.