Carbon steel corrosion prevention during chemical cleaning of steam generator secondary side components

During operation of a nuclear power plant, many contaminants, such as solid particles or dissolved species are formed in the secondary circuit, go into steam generator and deposit as scales on heat transfer tubing, support plate or as sludge on tube sheet. By accumulation of these impurities, heat transfer is reduced and the integrity of the steam generator tubing is influenced. Chemical cleaning is a qualified, efficient measure to improve steam generator corrosion performance. The corrosion mechanism can be counteracted by the chemical cleaning of the deposits on the tube sheet and the scales on the heat transfer tubing. The major component of the scales is magnetite, which can be dissolved using an organic chelating agent (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, EDTA) in combination with a complexing agent such as citric acid in an alkaline reducing environment. As the secondary side of SG is a conglomerate of alloys it is necessary to choose an optimal chemical cleaning solution for an efficient cleaning properties and at the same time with capability of corrosion prevention of carbon steel components during the process. The paper presents laboratory tests initiated to confirm the ability of this process to clean the SG components. The experiments followed two paths: - first, carbon steel samples have been autoclavized in specific secondary circuit solutions of steam generator to simulate the deposits constituted during operation of this equipment; - secondly, autoclavized samples have been cleaned with a solvent composed of EDTA citric acid, hydrazine of pH = 5 and temperature of 85 deg. C. Before chemical cleaning, the oxide films were characterized by surface analysis techniques including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Applied to dissolve corrosion products formed in a steam generator, the solvents based on chelating agents are aggressive toward carbon steels and corrosion inhibitors are therefore added to protect them. For this purpose, experiments were conducted on two organic corrosion inhibitors added in the solvent based on EDTA, citric acid and hydrazine. Efficiency of corrosion inhibitors was determined by the same surface analysis methods. Also electrochemical measurements (potentiodynamic analysis, free corrosion potential measurement) were performed to assess the efficiency of inhibitors added in chemical cleaning solutions. The results showed a good agreement of samples corrosion behavior estimated by weight losses and by electrochemical methods. (authors)