Effect of Pt injection rate on corrosion potential and Pt distribution on stainless steel under simulated boiling water reactor conditions

Abstract

Online NobleChem is a technology to mitigate stress corrosion cracking in reactor internals and recirculation pipes of boiling water reactors (BWRs). For a more efficient reduction of the electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) under hydrogen water chemistry conditions, noble metals (e.g. Pt) are injected into the feed water during power operation. They are claimed to deposit as very fine metallic particles on all water wetted surfaces and to stay electrocatalytic over long periods. To study the deposition and (re)distribution behaviour of Pt, a sophisticated high temperature water loop has been constructed, in which specimens can be exposed to simulated BWR water and Pt can be deposited in situ. The specimens are analysed by laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry and electron microscopy after the experiments. Results from two experiments with different Pt injection rates but similar total Pt amounts revealed a faster and more pronounced reduction of the ECP and slightly larger average Pt particle size using the higher Pt injection rate. A longer preoxidation of the specimens seems to increase the average Pt concentration on the specimen surface.

Keywords

NobleChem NMCA Platinum Stress corrosion cracking Boiling water reactor Deposition behaviour Hydrogen water chemistry

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Kilian

and Roth

: ‘Corrosion behaviour of reactor coolant system materials in nuclear power plants’, Mater. Corros. 2002 53 727–739.

Horn

R. M.

Andresen

P. L.

and Hickling

: ‘BWR alloy 182 stress corrosion cracking experience’ Proc. 5th Int. Symp. on ‘Contribution of materials investigation to the resolution of problems encountered in pressurized water reactors (Fontevraud 5)’, Fontevraud, France, September 2002, SFEN, 55-67.

Ishida

Wada

Tachibana

Hosokawa

and Nakamura

: ‘Effects of noble metal deposition upon corrosion behavior of structural materials in nuclear power plants. (I). Effect of noble metal deposition with an oxide film on type 304 stainless steel under simulated hydrogen water chemistry condition’, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol. 2005 42 (9) 799–808.

Kim

Y.-J.

: ‘Effect of noble metal addition on electrochemical polarization behaviour of H₂ oxidation and O₂ reduction on 304SS in high temperature water’ Proc. CORROSION 98, NACE, San Diego, CA, USA, March 1998, NACE, Paper 127.

Kim

Y.-J.

and Andresen

P. L.

: ‘Transformation kinetics of oxide formed on noble metal-treated type 304 stainless steel in 288 degrees C water’, Corrosion 2003 59 (6) 511–519.

Wada

Ishida

Uetake

Nakamura

and Akamine

: ‘Characterization of noble metal deposition on type 304 stainless steel’ Proc. 10th Int. Conf. on ‘Environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems—water reactors’, Lake Tahoe, NV, USA, August 2001, NACE/TMS/ANS.

Cowan

R. L.

Lin

C. C.

Marble

W. J.

and Ruiz

C. P.

: ‘Hydrogen water chemistry in BWRs’ Proc. 5th Int. Symp. on ‘Environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems–water reactors’ Monterey, CA, USA August 1991 NACE, 50-58.

Angeliu

T. M.

Hettiarachchi

Kim

Y. J.

Diaz

T. P.

and Andresen

P. L.

: ‘Application of catalytic nanoparticles to high temperature water systems to reduce stress corrosion cracking’, (ed. Co

G. E.

), 2004 http://www.patentvest.com/console/reports/docs/grant/06793883.html.

Andresen

P. L.

Kim

Y.-J.

Diaz

T. P.

and Hettiarachchi

: ‘Online NobleChem mitigation of SCC’ Proc. 12th Int. Conf. on ‘Environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems–water reactors’, Snowbird, UT, USA, August 2005, NACE/TMS/ANS, 727-744.

10.

Kim

Y.-J.

Andresen

P. L.

Hettiarachchi

and Diaz

T. P.

: ‘Effect of variations in noble metal chemical addition process on electrochemical catalytic response in high temperature water’ Proc. 13th Int. Conf. on ‘Environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems–water reactors’, Whistler, BC, Canada, August 2007, NACE/TMS/ANS.

11.

Hettiarachchi

Horn

R. M.

Kim

Y.-J.

and Andresen

P. L.

: ‘Electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) reduction and crack mitigation experiences with NobleChem^TM and On-Line NobleChem^TM’ Proc. 14th Int. Conf. on ‘Environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems–water reactors’, Virginia Beach, VA, USA, August 2009, NACE/TMS/ANS.

12.

Ritter

Karastoyanov

Abolhassani-Dadras

Guenther-Leopold

and Kivel

, ‘Investigation of noble metal deposition behaviour in boiling water reactors—the NORA project’, PPChem. 2010 12 (11) 628–635.

13.

Guillong

Heimgartner

Kopajtic

Günther

and Günther-Leopold

: ‘A laser ablation system for the analysis of radioactive samples using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry’, J. Anal. At. Spectrom. 2007 22 399–402.

14.

Collins

T. J.

: ‘ImageJ for microscopy’, BioTechniques 2007 43 (1) 25–30.