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BWR water chemistry impurity studies, Phase 2

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5300773

Laboratory studies on the effect of water impurities on environmental cracking in simulated BWR water of stainless steel, low alloy steel and nickel base alloys were reported in EPRI NP-6773. These have been complemented with some further tests. Constant elongation rate tensile (CERT) tests in normal water chemistry (NWC) showed chromate is a harmless impurity with respect to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). Other tests were run which improved our knowledge on the effect of various water impurities. Some of our earlier conclusions were reevaluated in the light of new data, but there were only minor changes in conclusions. Corrosion fatigue and constant load tests on compact tension specimens were run in simulated normal water chemistry (NWC) and hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) with 0.1 ppm chloride. Type 304 SS, Type 316NG and Alloy 600 were tested. Crack propagation rates were intermediate between those in clean environment and those with 0.1 ppm sulfate, for both NWC and HWC. 13 refs., 5 figs., 3 tabs.

Research Organization:
Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); ABB Atom AB, Vaesteraas (Sweden)
Sponsoring Organization:
EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
OSTI ID:
5300773
Report Number(s):
EPRI-NP-7458-M
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English