Solid water brittle fracture

The acceptance criterion for the resolution of GSI 094 is to increase the protection of the reactor vessel from brittle fracture resulting from low temperature overpressure operation of the RCS (e.g., during such plant evolutions as heatup, cooldown, water solid, and maintenance operations). 

Properties oi the alkali hydroxides.—The alkali hydroxides are brittle, white, translucent solids with a more or less crystalline fracture, and fibrous texture. Sodium hydroxide deliquesces on exposure to the air, but it goes solid again owing to the formation of the carbonate by the absorption of carbon dioxide from the air. Lithium hydroxide is a little hygroscopic. Potassium hydroxide is even more deliquescent than the sodium compound but its carbonate is also deliquescent. The hydroxides are very solnble in water, and they also dissolve in alcohol. The reported numbers for the specific gravities22 of sodium hydroxide range from l-723 to 2T30 and for potassium hydroxide, from l-958 to 2 6. The best representative sp. gr. are 2"54 for lithium hydroxide 2130 for sodium hydroxide 2 044 for potassium hydroxide 3"203 (11°) for rubidium hydroxide and 3-675 (11°) for csesium hydroxide. 

Beeswax, Yellow, occurs as a yellow to gray-brown solid with an agreeable, honey odor. It is the purified wax from the honeycomb of the bee Apis mellifera L. (Fam. Apidae) and consists primarily of myricyl palmitate (myricin), cerotic acid and ester, and some high-carbon paraffins. It is somewhat brittle when cold, and presents a dull, granular, noncrystalline fracture when broken. It becomes pliable at a temperature of about 35°. Its specific gravity is about 0.95. Beeswax, Yellow, is insoluble in water and sparingly soluble in cold alcohol. Boiling alcohol dissolves cerotic acid and part of the myricin. It is completely soluble in chloroform, in ether, and in fixed and volatile oils. It is partly soluble in cold carbon disulfide and completely soluble in it at temperatures of 30° or above. 

British thermal unit (Btu) A British thermal unit is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 lb of water ]°F (0.6°C) at sea level. As an example, one lb of solid waste usually contains 4,500 to 5,000 Btu. Plastic waste contains greater Btu than other materials of waste. See calorie energy consumption heat, brittle Easily broken, damaged, disrupted, cracked, snapped. See design-failure theory, Griffith metal fracture. 

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