2016 Volume 65 Issue 12 Pages 483-489
The structure of the electric power business has been undergoing a major transformation in recent years. Japan's vertically integrated electric power supply system is now going through a historical paradigm shift with respect to the wide-area operation of power transmission lines, complete liberalization of electricity retailing, and separation of power generation and transmission. These trends also affect the issue of preventing the corrosion of power distribution facilities, making efforts to maintain the facilities and to estimate their service life and damage risk all the more important. This paper focuses on the issue of preventing the corrosion of utility poles and outside steel structure facilities that account for a large portion of the installed electric power distribution network. It describes the present status of performance evaluation tests conducted on prestressing steel tendons used in concrete poles (PC steel) and heavy duty coatings as well as the activities of related academic societies.
