With all those fractures and blasting damage and the like—and incidentally, blasting damage doesn't go far back in the rock, that's well known—the water that comes in.If you back-calculate it out, that rock, including the fractures, is tighter than any clay landfill liner in North America.

Preparation of the component parts (e.g. forming and chamfering) shall not give rise to defects or cracks or changes in the mechanical characteristics likely to be detrimental to the safety of the pressure equipment.

solid rocket propellants, when in compressed or cast form, must not contain any unintentional fissures or gas bubbles which dangerously affect their functioning.

4. Recalls, however, that the stress tests initiated by the Commission and ENSREG were limited in scope and were primarily intended to assess the robustness and preparedness of NPPs in the face of extremely severe external events; considers, therefore, that the stress tests were primarily aimed at assessing the robustness and preparedness of NPPs against such severe external events and were not and could not be intended to replace the detailed safety reviews of NPPs which are carried out under the national competence of the Member States for assessing the nuclear safety of NPPs; urges the Commission, therefore, to include the overall robustness of NPPs (in particular with regard to possible ...[+++] cracks in pressure vessels) as a specific criterion in future stress tests;

The salvage operators identified a 35 metre crack below the waterline.

It launched an inquiry last fall into stress corrosion cracking, a process whereby a series of small cracks appear on the external surface of the steel pipe and, over time, link together to cause a rupture.