Published September 1984 | Version v1
Report

Laboratory results on the effects of oxygen control during BWR start up on the IGSCC of 304 stainless steel

  • 1. General Electric CR and D, Schenectady, NY

Description

This paper presents experimental findings which demonstrate the effects of deaeration during simulated boiling water reactor (BWR) start up on intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) of weld sensitized Type 304 stainless steel. This study utilized a complex experimental system in which temperature, load and water chemistry were simultaneously altered with time to simulate the environment present during different types of BWR start ups. In addition to examining the influence of oxygen and hydrogen peroxide concentration in pure water, the influence of impurities was studied (primarily dilute sulfuric acid) to determine the effects of ion exchange demineralizer intrusions. The results generally agree with predictive calculations based on average crack growth rates as a function of potential and temperature. Results are compared with other data and the importance of water chemistry control during start up is compared with other environment-related remedies to IGSCC

Additional details

Publishing Information

Imprint Title
Proceedings: second seminar on countermeasures for pipe cracking in BWRs. Volume 2. Remedy development
Journal Page Range
p. 12.1-12.50.
Report number
EPRI-NP--3684-SR-Vol.2

Conference

Title
2. seminar on countermeasures for pipe cracking in BWRs.
Dates
15-18 Nov 1983.
Place
Palo Alto, CA (USA).