After the tsunami severely damaged the Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan, increasing attention has been paid to improving the radiation resistance of the containment materials associated with nuclear reactors, especially in the case of coolant loss accidents (LOCA). Seal leakage has always been a very important safety issue, and for today's nuclear power plants, the maintenance and replacement of seals is expensive and time-consuming. People have thought: if you can avoid these problems from the seal design and material selection stage is not better? However, the reality is that even with the most advanced design, the problem of sealing the nuclear reactor equipment cannot be completely solved from the details of the design. It is assumed that various seals composed of organic materials may be severely damaged by nuclear radiation, and rubber gaskets, in particular, are the most vulnerable materials.
Therefore, it is very important to understand how rubber seals deteriorate under DBA conditions. In the selection of rubber mixtures, the specifications of the individual seals should be taken into account as well as their operation in normal factories and changes under DBA conditions. However, there has been a lack of precise and complete data, which has prevented engineers from understanding the specific radiation resistance of these rubber seals and how to apply them.