Oxidation performance in supercritical water Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • The SCW reactor (SCWR) design, with a core coolant temperature between 280C and 620C at a pressure of 25 MPa, anticipates a higher thermal efficiency and plant simplification as compared to current light water reactors (LWRs). Because of the higher temperatures, as well as the unique properties of water above the critical point, the oxidation performance of candidate materials must be understood. A large number of materials, including austenitic stainless steels, ferritic-martensitic steels, and Ni-base alloys, have been tested at temperatures from 360-600C at 25MPa, with sample chamber inlet dissolved oxygen concentrations ranging from 15 to 2000 ppb. Sample exposures have run from 333-3000 hours. This paper will focus on results from tests up to 3000-hours at 500C and 25 ppb inlet dissolved oxygen concentration, specifically an analysis of weight changes. Grain refinement is shown to improve the oxidation performance of both a ferritic-martensitic and an austenitc steel.

published proceedings

  • 14th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems Water Reactors 2009

author list (cited authors)

  • Allen, T. R., Sridharan, K., Ren, X., Tan, L., Chen, Y., Foley, D. C., Hartwig, K. T., & Zhang, X.