Welding defects, such as porosity and spike, have sometimes occurred in deep penetration electron beam welds. These defects are known to be one of the serious problem in electron beam welds. So, effects of active parameters ($a_b$) on bead shape and occurrence of defects in electron beam welds of heavy section 9%Ni steel plates were investigated. Partial penetration welding in flat position, and deep penetration welding of 10 ~ 28mm depth were investigated in this study. It is desirable to select low accelerating voltage and above the surface focus position $a_b$$geq$1.2 at which a wine-cup shaped bead is obtained to avoid the welding defects such as spike and root porosity. When the accelerating voltage of electron beam was low (90kV), active parameter ($a_b$) did not influence on the bead width, penetration depth and weld defects significantly. However, in case of high voltage ($geq$120kV), active parameter ($a_b$) was sensitively associated with penetraton depth and weld defects, i.e. when the active parameter (($a_b$) was in the range of 0.6 to 1.0, the depth of penetration was always over the target (23mm), while the depth of penetration was dramatically decreased with further increase of active parameter ($a_b$). The weld defects were decreased with the increase of active parameter $a_b$ resulting in the decrease of energy density of the focused beam in the root part of fusion zone.