Some aspects of compatibility of materials with decontamination formulations

Radiometallurgy Division has been actively engaged in examination of coupons of important structural materials of PHWRs and Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS), BWR from various sources in order to study the compatibility of different decontamination formulations with these materials. Data has been generated on carbon steel, zircaloy-2 and monel through metallographic and scanning electron microscopic examination of coupons from the autoclaves of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS-II) and also from laboratory experiments. The effect of low oxidation state metal ions (LOMI) formulation on 304 stainless steel sensitized to different levels has been studied at the required temperature in order to check the compatibility of LOMI with the sensitized material of the weld heat affected zone in the clean up system piping which are to be taken up for decontamination shortly. Similar study has also been carried out with three other formulations in order to choose a suitable formulation for this work. 3 refs., 3 tabs., 5 figs