Notch reorientation of Charpy-V specimens of the BWR Philippsburg 1 through reconstitution

10x10x10mm cubes, made from broken halves of un-irradiated and irradiated L-T oriented Charpy-V surveillance specimens of the Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) Philippsburg 1, were reconstituted to L-T and T-L oriented Charpy-V bars using the studgun welding technique of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK·CEN. Instrumented Charpy-V (C_V) impact testing, according to the European Standard EN10045, was performed in order to determine the T-L transition curves of the reconstituted surveillance material. Losses of fracture energy and lateral expansion, mainly as a consequence of constraint of plastic flow due to the reconstitution welds, were detected. No change in shear fracture appearance was observed. The transition curves of the tested T-L reconstituted specimens represent conservative lower bounds that fulfil the C_V upper shelf energy requirements of the Regulator. A correction curve allows estimation of the T-L transition curves of non-reconstituted T-L specimens. The data were consistently analysed with hyperbolic tangent functions, while the load diagram recorded during the instrumented impact tests was used for guidance in the analysis. The quality assurance (QA) was ensured by the 'Technischer Überwachungs-Verein Südwestdeutchland' (TÜV-Südwest), 'Staatliche Materialprüfungsanstalt Universität Stuttgart' (MPA-Stuttgart) and 'Kernkraftwerk Philippsburg' (KKP).