Abstract
Structural components in nuclear plants are exposed to the operation environment, predominantly the coolant. Interactions with this environment and the surface of the components can lead to severe damage. Water, steam, liquid metals (sodium, lithium, lead, lead–bismuth), helium and molten salts are the most important environments for nuclear plants. In the first part the chapter provides an introduction into the expected damage mechanisms. Examples for corrosion damage for different plants are shown in the second part. In contrast to about fifty years experience with water/steam as coolants for the other environments only very limited field experience or even no experience exists. Therefore the plant related examples are often speculative and need to be validated by longer experience in the future.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Corrosion (2011) In ASM materials handbook desk edition. http://products.asminternational.org/asm/servlet/Navigate. Accessed 30 Sep 2011
Heikinheimo L (2009) Materials for SCWR MATGEN-IV STOCKHOLM—2 Feb 2009. https://192.107.58.30/D19/Heikinheimo.pdf. Accessed 30 Sep 2011
Was G, Busby J, Andresen PL (2006) Effect of irradiation on stress-corrosion cracking and corrosion in light water reactors. In : Cramer SD, Covino BS Jr (eds) ASM handbook: corrosion: environments and industries, vol 13C. doi: 10.1361/asmhba0004147
Heilmaier H, Reppich B (1996) Creep lifetime prediction of oxide-dispersion-strengthened nickel-base superalloys: a micromechanically based approach. Metall Mat Trans A 27:3861–3870
Hoffelner W (1986) Creep dominated processes. In: Betz W et al. (eds) High temperature alloys for gas turbines and other applications 1986. Reidel Publication Comp, Dordrecht
Revie I, Winston R (2008) Corrosion and corrosion control, 4th edn. Wiley, ISBN: 978-0-471-73279-2
Austen MI (1983) Quantitative understanding of corrosion fatigue crack growth behaviour: final report. In: Commission of European communities, technical steel research, Brussels EUR 8560
Gilman JD (1986) Application of a model for predicting corrosion fatigue crack growth in reactor pressure vessel steels in LWR environments. Predict Capab Environ Assist Crack ASME-PVP 99:1–16
Shoji T (1986) Quantitative prediction of environmentally assisted cracking based on crack tip strain rate. Predict Capab Environ Assist Crack ASME-PVP 99:127–142
Gabetta G (1987) The effect of frequency in environmental fatigue tests. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 10(5):373–383
SchĂĽtze M, Quaddakkers WJ (1999) Cyclic oxidation of high temperature materials. In: European federation of corrosion series, vol 27. ISBN: 978 1 861251 00
NACE Resource Center (2011) http://events.nace.org/library/corrosion/AnodProtect/passivecurve.asp. Accessed 30 Sep 2011
Gorynin I, Timofeev B, Chernaenko T (2003) Material properties degradation assessment of the first generation WWER440 RPV after prolonged operation. In: Transactions of the 17th international conference on structural mechanics in reactor technology (SMiRT 17), Prague Czech Republic 17–22 Aug, paper #D02-4
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2011) http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ops-experience/pressure-boundary-integrity.html. Accessed 30 Sep 2011
Staehle RW (2007) Anatomy of proactivity. In: International symposium on research for aging management of light water reactors and its future trend the 15th anniversary of institute of nuclear safety system inc (INSS), 22 and 23 Oct 2007, Fukui City Japan
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2011) http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/bulletins/2004/bl200401.pdf. Accessed 30 Sep 2011
Sensitization of Austenites (2011) In: ASM materials handbook desk edition. http://products.asminternational.org/asm/servlet/Navigate. Accessed 30 Sep 2011
Kim SN, Kim CH, Youn BS, Yum HK (2007) Experiments on thermal stratification in inlet nozzle of steam generator. J Mech Sci Technol 21(4): 654–663. doi: 10.1007/BF03026970
Kim JH, Roidt RM, Deardorff AF (1993) Thermal stratification and reactor piping integrity. Nucl Eng Des 139(1):83–95
Bruemmer SM, Simonen EP, Scott PM, Andresen PL, Was GS, Nelson JL (1999) Radiation-induced material changes and susceptibility to intergranular failure of light water reactor core internals. J Nucl Mater 274:299–314
Andresen PL, Ford FP, Murphy SM, Perks JM (1990) In: Cubicciotti D, Theus GJ (eds) Proceedings of fourth international symposium on environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems—water reactors. National Association of Corrosion Engineers, pp 1–83
Was GS, Andresen PL (1992) Irradiation-assisted stress-corrosion cracking in austenitic alloys. J Met 44(4):8–13
Scott PM (1994) A Review of irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking. J Nucl Mater 211:101
Ford FP, Andresen PL (1994) Corrosion in nuclear systems: environmentally assisted cracking in light water reactors. In: Marcus P, Ouder J (eds) Corrosion mechanisms. Marcel Dekker, pp 501–546
MacDonald DD, Yeh TK, MottaAT (1995) Corrosion paper no 403
Hettiarachchi S et al (1995) In: Proceedings of 7th international symposium on environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems—Water reactors, p 735
Hettiarachchi S et al (1997) In: Proceedings of 8th international symposium on environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems—Water reactors, p 535
Yeh TK, Lee MY, Tsai CH (2002) Intergranular stress corrosion cracking of type 304 stainless steels treated with inhibitive chemicals in simulated boiling water reactor environments. J Nucl Sci Technol 39(5):531–539
Hettiarachchi S (2002) Worldwide BWR chemistry performance with noble metal chemical addition. Corrosion, 7–11 April 2002, Denver CO, NACE International
Adamson R, Garzarolli F, Cox B, Strasser A, Rudling P (2007) Corrosion mechanisms in zirconium alloys. In: ZIRAT r2 special topic report corrosion mechanisms in zirconium alloys 2007. Advanced Nuclear Technology International Europe AB
Porter DL, Janney DE (2007) Chemical gradients in crud on boiling water reactor fuel elements. Idaho National Laboratory, PO Box 1625, Idaho Falls ID 83415-6188. http://www.inl.gov/technicalpublications/Documents/3772059.pdf. Accessed 10 Oct 2011
Huijbregts WMM, Letschert PJC (1987) Deposition of CRUD in BWR water on various steels exposed in the Dodewaard nuclear power plant. In: Kema scientific and technical reports, vol 4(2), pp 15–25. ISSN 0167-8590, ISBN 90-353-0037-8. Paper 33 JAF conference Tokio 1987. http://www.hbscc.nl/pdf/33%20Deposition%20of%20CRUD%20in%20BWR%20water.pdf. Accessed 10 Oct 2011
Delayed Hydride Cracking in Zirconium Alloys in Pressure Tube Nuclear Reactors (2004) Final report of a coordinated research project 1998–2002. IAEA-TECDOC-1410
Chua HC, Wua SK, Kuo RC (2008) Hydride reorientation in zircaloy-4 cladding. J Nucl Mater 373:319–327
Furukawa T, Kato S, Yoshida E (2009) Compatibility of FBR materials with sodium. J Nucl Mater 392:249–254
Raj B (2009) Materials science research for sodium cooled fast reactors. Bull Mater Sci 32(3):271–283
Asayama T, Abe Y, Miyaji N, Koi M, Furukawa T, Yoshida E (2001) Evaluation procedures for irradiation effects and sodium environmental effects for the structural design of Japanese fast breeder reactors. J Press Vessel Technol 123:49–57
Yoshida E, Kato S (2004) Sodium compatibility of ODS steel at elevated temperature. J Nucl Mater 329–333:1393–1397
Chellapandi P, Chetal SC, Raj B (2009) Thermal striping limits for components of sodium cooled fast spectrum reactors. Nucl Eng Des 239:2754–2765
Schuster H, Bauer R, Graham LW, Menken G, Thiele W (1981) Corrosion of high temperature alloys in the primary circuit gas of helium cooled high temperature reactors. In: Proceedings of 8th international congress on metallic corrosion mainz, vol 2, p 1601
Menken G, Graham LW, Nieder R, Schuster H, Thiele W (1983) Review of gas-metal interactions in HTR helium up to 950C. In: Proceedings of conference on gas cooled reactors today bristol, 20–24 Sept 1982, British Nuclier Energy Society, 1985
Bates HGA (1984) The corrosion behaviour of high temperature alloys during exposure times up to 10,000 h in prototype nuclear helium at 700–900 °C. Nucl Technol 66:415–428
Brenner KGE, Graham LW (1984) The development and application of a unified corrosion model for high temperature gas cooled reactor systems. Nucl Technol 66:404–414
Quadakkers WJ, Schuster H (1984) Thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of the corrosion of high temperature alloys in high-temperature gas cooled reactors. Nucl Technol 66:383–391
Ennis PJ, Mohr KP, Schuster H (1984) Effect of carburizing service environments on the mechanical properties of high temperature alloys. Nucl Technol 66: 263–270
Tanabe T, Sakai Y, Shikama T, Fujitsuka M, Yoshida H, Watanabe R (1984) Creep rupture properties of superalloys developed for nuclear steelmaking. Nucl Technol 66: 260–272
Tsuji H, Kondo T (1984) Low-cycle fatigue of heat resistant alloys in high-temperature gas-cooled reactor helium. Nucl Technol 66:347–353
Tucek K, Carlsson J, Wider H (2005) Comparison of sodium and lead cooled fast reactors regarding severe safety and economical issues. In: 13th international conference on nuclear engineering, Beijing, China, 16–20 May 2005, ICONE13-50397
Subbotin VI, Arnoldov MN, Kozlov FA, Shimkevich AL (2002) Liquid metal coolants for nuclear power. At Energ, vol 92, p 1
Gorse D, Auger T, Vogt JB, Serre I, Weisenburger A, Gessi A, Agostini P, Fazio C, Hojna A, Di Gabriele F, Van Den Bosch J, Coen G, Almazouzi A, Serrano M (2011) Influence of liquid lead and lead–bismuth eutectic on tensile, fatigue and creep properties of ferritic/martensitic and austenitic steels for transmutation systems. J Nucl Mater 415:284–292
Smith CF (2011) The lead-cooled fast reactor: concepts for small and medium sized reactors for international deployment, LLNL-PRES-413792. https://smr.inl.gov/Login.aspx?requestedUrl=/Document.ashx?path=DOCS%2FSMR…smith.pdf. Accessed 12 Oct 2011
Cinotti L, Smith CF, Sekimoto H (2009) Lead cooled fast reactor (LFR): overview and perspectives. In: GIF symposium—Paris (France), 9–10 Sep 2009, pp 173–179
MĂĽller G (2007) Pb and LBE corrosion protection at elevated temperatures. http://www.oecd-nea.org/science/reports/2007/pdf/chapter9.pdf. Accessed 12 Oct 2011
Overview of supercritical water oxidation technology. http://www.turbosynthesis.com/summitresearch/sumscw1.htm. Accessed 3 Nov 2011
General Atomics, supercritical water oxidation. www.ga.com/atg/APS/scwo/index.php
Was GS, Teysseyre S (2005) Challenges and recent progress in stress corrosion cracking of alloys for supercritical water reactor core components. In: Allen TR, King PJ, Nelson L (eds) Proceedings of the 12th international conference on environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power system—Water reactors. TMS the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society
Luo X, Tang R, Long C, Miao Z, Peng Q, Li C (2007) Corrosion behaviour of austenitic and ferritic steels in supercritical water. Nucl Eng Technol 40(2):144–157
Guzonas D (2009) SCWR materials and chemistry status of ongoing reasearch. In: GIF symposium, Paris (France), 9–10 Sept 2009, pp 163–170
Was GS, Ampornrat P, Gupta G, Teysseyre S, West EA, Allen TR, Sridharan K, Tan L, Chen Y, Ren X, Pister C (2007) Corrosion and stress corrosion cracking in supercritical water. J Nucl Materials 371: 176
Heikinheimo L, Guzonas D, Fazio C (2009) Generation IV materials and chemistry research–common issues with the SCWR concept. In: 4th international symposium on supercritical water-cooled reactors. Heidelberg Germany, 8–11 March 2009
Allen TR, Was GS (2007) Novel techniques to mitigate corrosion and stress corrosion cracking in supercritical water. Corrosion 2007, 11–15 March, Nashville Tennessee NACE 07RTS9
Renault C, Hron M, R. Konings R, Holcomb DE (2009) The molten salt reactor (MSR) in generation IV: overview and perspectives. In: GIF Symposium, Paris (France)—9–10 Sep 2009, pp 191–200
DeVan JH, Evans RB (1962) Corrosion behaviour of reactor materials in fluoride salt mixtures. ORLN-TM-328
Olson LC (2009) Materials corrosion in molten LiF-NaF-KF eutectic salt. Doctoral Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sabharwall P, Ebner M, Sohal M, Sharpe P, Anderson M, Sridharan K, Ambrosek J, Olson L, Brooks P (2010) Molten salts for high temperature reactors: University of Wisconsin molten salt corrosion and flow loop experiments—Issues identified and path forward. INL/EXT-10-18090
Delpech S, Merle-Lucotte E, Auger T, Doligez X, Heuer D, Picard G (2009) MSFR: Materials issues and the effect of chemistry control. In: GIF symposium—Paris (France), 9–10 Sep 2009, pp 201–208
Tiearnay TC, Grant NJ (1982) Metallurgical transactions, vol 13A, p 1827
Konys J, Krauss W, Holstein N (2011) Aluminum-based barrier development for nuclear fusion applications. Corrosion 67(2):026002-1–026002-6
Konys J, Krauss W, Novotny J, Steiner H, Voss Z, Wedemeyer O (2009) Compatibility behavior of EUROFER steel in flowing Pb-17Li. J Nucl Mater 386–388: 678
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag London Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hoffelner, W. (2013). Environmental Damage in Nuclear Plants. In: Materials for Nuclear Plants. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2915-8_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2915-8_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-2914-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-2915-8
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)