Corrosion damages and the relevant protective strategies for LWR nuclear power station

The corrosion damages of metal materials in LWR environment often occur at the contact positions between materials and coolant water or steam at high temperature and high pressure. The main damages are as follows: the SCC on stainless steel pipe of BWR primary coolant system; SCC, wastage, denting and IGA on the nickel alloy tube of PWR steam generator; corrosion fatigue of carbon steel water supply pipe; nodular corrosion and PCI of zirconium alloy fuel cladding; and SCC on the split pins of control rod guide tube. Some protective strategies are presented. Finally, the paper points out that developing the long-time endurance technology, quantitatively grasping the deteriorate level of the structural materials of LWR and establishing remaining life assessment technology are the important aspects for future researches