Nuclear power plants, corrosion

Chemical-Process Vessels. Explosion-bonded products are used in the manufacture of process equipment for the chemical, petrochemical, and petroleum industries where the corrosion resistance of an expensive metal is combined with the strength and economy of another metal. AppHcations include explosion cladding of titanium tubesheet to Monel, hot fabrication of an explosion clad to form an elbow for pipes in nuclear power plants, and explosion cladding titanium and steel for use in a vessel intended for terephthaHc acid manufacture. 

Test methods for corrosivity of solvent systems for removing water-formed deposits Recommended practice for determining corrosivity of adhesive materials Guide to the selection of test methods for coatings used in light-water nuclear power plants... 

Moessbauer study of the behaviour of synthetic corrosion products of nuclear power plants. Radiat. Phys. Chem. 11 321-326 Blesa, M.A. Mijalchik, M. Villegas, M. 

The most important applications of zirconium involve its alloys, Zircaloy. The aUoy offers excellent mechanical and heat-transfer properties and great resistance to corrosion and chemical attack. This, in conjunction with the fact that zirconium has a low neutron absorption cross section, makes this ahoy a suitable choice as a construction material for thermal nuclear reactors and nuclear power plants. Other uses are as an ingredient of explosive mixtures, as getter in vacuum tubes, and in making flash bulb, flash powder (historical), and lamp filaments, in rayon spinnerets, and in surgical appliances. 

Intake water tunnels are generally made from concrete, and absorption of water by concrete is the main reason for corrosion in reinforcement. In intake structures the problems are due to concrete failure from salts penetrating into the concrete and corroding the rebar. Hard, dense concrete with ample cover to reinforcement and without cracks and porosity has good resistance to corrosion against seawater. In Indian nuclear power plants, the experience with concrete intake tunnels with respect to corrosion behavior is not bad except that special care is required for protection against algae, clams, mussels, etc. which attach to the tunnel surface. 

Provides abstracts of worldwide research on design and performance of mechanical draft and natural draft wet, dry, and dry-wet combination cooling towers. Abstracts cover studies on size reduction, corrosion protection, and economic optimization of cooling towers primarily used with nuclear power plants and fossil fuel power plants. Also covered are abstracts which pertain to cooling towers used in waste-water treatment. It contains 305 abstracts, 65 of which are new entries to the previous edition. 

Another underground disposal site project is in Finland at the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant. The proposed waste site will store spent fuel rods in iron canisters sealed in copper shells to resist corrosion. The canisters will be placed in holes surrounded by clay far below ground. The project is slated for completion in 2020. 

Stainless steel contains iron and nickel—important materials in nuclear power reactors and possible constituents of the materials used to construct nuclear test devices or their supporting structures.8 9 During nuclear weapons tests, stable Fe and Ni isotopes are neutron activated, giving rise to radioactive Fe and Ni along with fission products. In nuclear power plants, moreover, stable Fe and Ni isotopes are released from stainless steel through corrosion, become activated, and are transported to different parts of the reactor system. 

IAEA-TECDOC-996 (1998), Waterside Corrosion of Zirconium Alloys in Nuclear Power Plants, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna. 

Corrosion Rate Monitoring and Diagnosis in the Heating Circuits of Nuclear Power Plants... 

Pope [37] reported a case study from a nuclear power plant in which Monel heat exchanger tubes were found to have many discrete deposits under which severe pitting corrosion was observed. Deposits, formed by iron-and manganese-depositing bacteria in association with... 

The total cost of material fracture is about 4% of gross domestic product in the United States and Europe (88,89). Fracture modes included in the cost estimates were stress-induced failures (tension, compression, flexure, and shear), overload, deformation, and time-dependent modes, such as fatigue, creep, SCC, and embrittlement. The environmentally assisted corrosion problem is very much involved in the maintenance of the safety and reliability of potentially dangerous engineering systems, such as nuclear power plants, fossil fuel power plants, oil and gas pipelines, oil production platforms, aircraft and aerospace technologies, chemical plants, and so on. Losses because of environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) of materials amount to many billions of dollars annually and is on the increase globally (87). 

An example is the SCC of stainless steel at 200 °C in a caustic solution or in aerated chloride solution where no traces of dissolution are visible on the crack face. The three conditions, namely, tensile stress, susceptible sample material, and a corrosive environment are the conditions necessary for stress corrosion to take place (73, 90). For instance, SCC of metals has been by far the most prevalent cause of failure of steam generator components in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) to an extent of 69% of all cases, piping in boiling water reactors (59.7%) and PWRs (23.7%). More than 60% of inspected steam turbines in nuclear power plants have disks with stress corrosion cracks (91). 

This method found application also in the field of the vitrification of hazardous waste, namely in the determination of optimal conditions for immobib-lization of the waste containing Sr and Cs from nuclear power plants, and in testing the durability of this glass towards hydrolytic corrosion [29,30]. 

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