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Acid Dissolution Behavior of Ferritic FeCrAl Tubes Candidates for Nuclear Fuel Cladding

Journal Article · · Corrosion
DOI:https://doi.org/10.5006/3965· OSTI ID:1981285
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. GE Research, Schenectady, NY (United States); OSTI
  2. GE Research, Schenectady, NY (United States)
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The international materials community is engaged in finding safer alternatives to zirconium alloys for the cladding of fuel in light water reactors. One solution is to replace the zirconium cladding using ferritic iron-chromium-aluminum (FeCrAl) alloys, which offer extraordinary resistance to high-temperature reaction with air or steam due to the formation of a protective alumina layer on the external surface. It is important to characterize the behavior of FeCrAl not only during accident conditions but in the entire fuel cycle, which may include reprocessing of the used fuel after it is removed from the power reactors. The reprocessing may involve the dissolution of the fuel rods in mineral acids. Little or nothing is known on the dissolution of FeCrAl alloys in common mineral acids, therefore the objective of this research was to study the dissolution of typical cladding tubing having two compositions of FeCrAl (APMT and C26M) in three acids (H2SO4, HNO3, and HCl) as a function of the temperature using both standard ASTM immersion tests as well as electrochemical tests. The dissolution behavior of the FeCrAl alloys is compared to the dissolution capability of other traditional nuclear materials such as austenitic stainless steels (304SS and 316SS) and austenitic nickel alloys (Alloy 600 and Hastelloy C-276). Results show that both C26M and APMT have a higher dissolution capability in the studied mineral acids, which will be beneficial for reprocessing procedures.
Research Organization:
General Electric Co., Boston, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
NE0009047
OSTI ID:
1981285
Journal Information:
Corrosion, Journal Name: Corrosion Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 77; ISSN 0010-9312
Publisher:
NACE InternationalCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (7)

Corrosion studies on materials of construction for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant equipment journal July 1993
Corrosion mechanisms of austenitic stainless steels in nitric media used in reprocessing plants journal March 2008
Impact of the use of the ferritic/martensitic ODS steels cladding on the fuel reprocessing PUREX process journal September 2012
Corrosion behavior of ODS steels with several chromium contents in hot nitric acid solutions journal October 2017
Accident tolerant fuel cladding development: Promise, status, and challenges journal April 2018
Corrosion behaviour of Al-containing high Cr ferritic oxide dispersion strengthened steel in nitric acid environment journal June 2020
Metrics for the Technical Performance Evaluation of Light Water Reactor Accident-Tolerant Fuel journal August 2016

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
APMT
Accident tolerant fuel
C26M
Cladding
FeCrAl
Materials science
Metallurgy & metallurgical engineering
Mineral acids
Reprocessing