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Watanabe-Abe Lab
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The lab studies maintenance engineering to find and prevent aging damage in nuclear power plants.
AboutAbout the lab
Safer and more reassuring than today
The Watanabe-Abe Lab conducts research that supports the safety of nuclear power generation.
The lab believes that Japan, which has no energy resources of its own, cannot do without coexisting with nuclear power.
Aiming for nuclear power that is safer and can be used for longer, the lab investigates the aging degradation of plant structural materials and countermeasures against it.
In particular, it works to elucidate the mechanism of stress corrosion cracking, a form of degradation that determines the service life of structures.
Key terms
- Stress corrosion cracking
- A phenomenon in which cracks form and grow in corrosion-resistant alloys such as stainless steel when three conditions (stress, environment, and material) coincide
- Weld metal
- The portion that melts and solidifies during welding
- Fusion boundary
- The boundary between the portion melted by welding and the base metal that did not melt
NewsLab news
A doctoral student received the LTC2025 Excellent Researcher Award
A doctoral student received the Encouragement Award from the Division of Water Chemistry, Atomic Energy Society of Japan
A master's student received the Student Session Excellence Award at the 20th Annual Conference of the Japan Society of Maintenology
Professor Watanabe received the Distinguished Service Award from the Japan Society of Maintenology
A doctoral student received the Encouragement Award from the Japan Society of Maintenology
ResearchResearch themes
The lab investigates the aging degradation of structural materials in nuclear power plants, aiming to enable safer and longer use. Centered on stress corrosion cracking, it works to elucidate the mechanisms of crack initiation and propagation.
*Illustrative imageObserving the initiation of stress corrosion cracking
Stress corrosion cracking is one of the key degradation phenomena that determine the service life of structures, and the initiation stage accounts for most of that life. Using a visualization technique developed in the lab that can continuously observe everything from the formation of crack precursors to the initiation and early growth of microcracks, the lab works to elucidate the initiation mechanism.
*Illustrative imageCrack arrest in stainless steel welds
In the stainless steel piping of boiling water reactors, cracks have been reported to stop or slow down near the fusion boundary. The lab has proposed an arrest mechanism that focuses on the microstructure near the fusion boundary, and is investigating its relationship with long-term low-temperature aging.
*Illustrative imageWelds between nickel-based alloy and low-alloy steel
In boiling water reactors in Japan, stress corrosion cracking has become apparent in the nickel-based alloy weld metal that joins the pressure vessel and the lower shroud support. The lab points out that the microstructure near the fusion boundary, determined by the thermal cycles of multi-pass welding, is a material-side factor that affects crack arrest and growth.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping structural materials resistant to aging degradation
Based on the mechanism by which cracks stop at the fusion boundary of low-carbon stainless steel, the lab came up with the idea that a crack-resistant microstructure can be obtained by adjusting the composition ratio and the solidification rate. It is making trial countermeasure materials and evaluating their susceptibility to cracking.
MembersFaculty
The Watanabe-Abe Lab consists of faculty members and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.
- ProfessorYutaka Watanabe
- Associate ProfessorHiroshi Abe
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Chapelcross Nuclear Power Station - geograph.org.uk - 1274138” M J Richardson / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Observing the initiation of stress corrosion cracking: “Stress-Corrosion-Cracking-caused-by-weld-stress-01” CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Crack arrest in stainless steel welds: “Pipe root weld with HAZ” Ytrottier / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Welds between nickel-based alloy and low-alloy steel: “Weld after corrosion test” Alfiya Gibadullina / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Developing structural materials resistant to aging degradation: “Iss071e ) ---A view the Metal 3D printer that manufactures experimental samples printed with stainless steel aboard the International Space Station's Columbus laboratory module” NASA Johnson Space Center / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Materials Irradiation Engineering Lab): “Interior of the VVER-440 reactor pressure vessel at Greifswald NPP” Siarhei Besarab / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Watanabe-Wang Lab): “Sasso 2 Geothermal Power Plant” T. AGEMAR / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yamaguchi-Ishizako Lab): “Gait laboratory” D. Gordon E. Robertson / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nishi Lab): “Non-wetting behavior of a surface of pelletized highly hydrophobic sand. Contact angle between water droplet and the surface is 145.22 degrees” Murat Baisariyev and Aidar Seralin / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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