On the interpretation of ECP data from operating boiling water reactors

A method has been devised for estimating the electrochemical conditions that exist in the recirculation piping of a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) under hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) conditions from corrosion potential measurements that are made in remote autoclaves. The technique makes use of the mixed potential model (MPM) to estimate corrosion potentials in the autoclaves and compares these estimates with measured values in an optimization on the concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and oxygen in the recirculation system. The algorithm recognizes that hydrogen peroxide decomposes in the sampling lines and that the transit times between the recirculation system and the monitoring points depend on the flow rates and sampling line diameters. An analysis is made of ECP data from three monitoring locations in the Barseback BWR in Sweden, as a function of the concentration of hydrogen in the feedwater for two flow rates (5,500 and 6,300 kg/s for the four recirculation loops)