Condition Monitoring Uncertainties and Thermal - Radiation Multistress Accelerated Aging Tests for Nuclear Power Plant Cables: A Review

Abstract

The low voltage cables in the nuclear power plant have the same importance as veins have in the human body. Since, the cables inside the containment are under a number of environmental stress, out which the thermal and radiation stresses are important and become more effective with the presence of oxygen. These stresses cause the degradation of the insulation and hence may lead to insulation failure. To study the behavior of the cables under the nuclear power plant environmental stress, the cables are subjected to accelerated aging tests in laboratories which helps in determining their withstand capacity and degradation behavior in the harsh thermal-radiation environment. In this paper, the accelerated aging tests conditions are discussed with the focus on the role of certain uncertainty factors which effect the aging markers during the condition monitoring of the insulation material of cable after the accelerated aging tests. This review has been put into a framework to better understand the aging process in the low voltage nuclear power plant cables. In the conclusion part, some future directions in the field of the thermal-radiation multi-stress accelerated aging tests and condition monitoring techniques are also identified.