In situ passivation experiments of nuclear grade steels in flowing Pb at 500degC

In accelerator driven systems (ADS), as well as in the next Generation IV future reactors, one of the concerned issues is the material compatibility and corrosion in liquid Pb, which is considered a candidate coolant. Liquid metal corrosion to the structural materials can proceed via different processes: species dissolution and penetration of liquid metal along grain boundaries and metal. The occurrence of these corrosion phenomenon depend on the experimental parameters, such as temperature, thermal gradients, solid and liquid metal compositions, velocity of the liquid metal and Oxygen activity in Pb. One possible technique to prevent any corrosive attack by the liquid metals is the in situ passivation of the containment steels. This technique is achieved through an active control and monitoring of the dissolved Oxygen concentration. This paper summarizes the data gathered from the CHEOPE III loop, where passivation of T91 and AISI 316L steels is tested in pure Pb at 500degC, comparing them with preliminary corrosion data, in LBE, gathered from the LECOR loop. (author)