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Title: SOME ASPECTS OF CARBON TRANSPORT IN HIGH TEMPERATURE GAS COOLED REACTORS. Project DRAGON.

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:4096453

The corrosion of graphite by small quantities of oxidising impurities in helium has been studied both out-of-pile and an in-pile loop. To provide more data and to avoid interference from side reactions with the materials of the loop, 0-14 labelled graphite samples have been used to supplement the information gained from normal gas analytical equipment. For the results obtained from the in-pile loop experiments a theoretical model is proposed which explains the large departure of the observed reaction rate from first order dependance on carbon dixode concentrations for the temperature range 250-900 deg C. Other aspects of graphite corrosion in a high temperature helium cooled graphite moderated reactor are briefly considered. Carbon deposition reactions on catalytically active surfaces have been studied experimentallly over the temperature range 200-700 deg C. Gas quilibria limiting the system for iron surfaces are considered and found to explain the experimentally observed distribution of deposited carbon with respect to temperature. The effects of carbon deposition on steel surfaces and the nature of the deposited carbon have been studied. Observed rates of carbon deposition when extrapolated to power reactor conditions indicate the possibility of large increases in graphite corrosion rates caused by regeneration of oxidising impurities, if no special measures are taken. The paper presents a new mathematical approach to design and operation aspects of carbon transport in high temperature and gas cooled reactors. (auth)

Research Organization:
Atomic Energy Establishment, Winfrith, England (United Kingdom)
NSA Number:
NSA-24-043756
OSTI ID:
4096453
Report Number(s):
DP-Report-365; CONF-650632-20
Resource Relation:
Conference: 7th Biennial Conference on Carbon, Cleveland, OH (US), 21-25 Jun 1965; Related Information: OECD High Temperature Reactor Project Dragon Report. Now open access.
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English