Chemical decontamination solutions: Effects on PWR equipment
- Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
A critical objective for the nuclear industry is the reduction of personnel exposure to radiation. Reductions have been achieved through industry`s radiation management programs including training and radiation awareness concepts. Increased plant maintenance and higher radiation fields at many sites continue to raise concerns. To alleviate the radiation exposure problem, the sources of radiation which contribute to personnel exposure must be removed from the plant. A feasible was of significantly reducing these sources from a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) is to chemically decontaminate the entire reactor coolant system (RCS). A program was conducted to determine the technical acceptability of using certain dilute chemical solvent processes for full RCS chemical decontamination. The two processes evaluated were CAN-DEREM and LOMI. The purpose of the program was to define and complete a systematic evaluation of the major issues that need to be addressed for the successful decontamination of the entire RCS and affected portions of the auxiliary systems of a four-loop PWR system. A test program was designed to evaluate the corrosion effects of the two decontamination processes under expected plant conditions. Materials and sample configurations dictated by generic PWR components were evaluated. The testing also included many standard corrosion coupons. The test data were then used to assess the impact of chemical decontamination on the physical condition and operability of the components, equipment and mechanical systems that make up the RCS. An overview of the test program, sample configurations, data and engineering evaluations is presented. The data demonstrate that through detailed engineering evaluations of corrosion data and equipment function, the impact of full RCS chemical decontamination on plant equipment is established.
- OSTI ID:
- 48080
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-910808-; TRN: 95:011511
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5. international symposium on environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems - water reactors, Monterey, CA (United States), 25-29 Aug 1991; Other Information: PBD: 1992; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the fifth international symposium on environmental degradation of materials in nuclear power systems - water reactors; PB: 995 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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