Condenser tube failures in water-cooled condensers with stainless steel and titanium tubes

Integrity of the condenser is one of the most important prerequisites for optimum availability, reliability and performance of fossil and nuclear units. Recently, generic 300 Series stainless steels, proprietary austenitic and ferritic stainless steels, and titanium seem to have completely displaced the traditional copper-based alloys. Upon publishing a paper dealing with condenser tube failures in water-cooled condensers with copper-based alloys in the last journal issue, this contribution focuses on operation experience and the most important types of tube failures in stainless steel and titanium condenser tubing. (orig.)