Corrosion characteristics of an aqueous self-cooled fusion blanket

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5509066

Bogaerts, W F; Embrechts, M J; Steiner, D; Deutsch, L; Jackson, D

A novel aqueous self-cooled blanket concept (ASCB) has recently been proposed. This blanket concept, as applied to a MARS-like tandem mirror reactor, consists of disks of spiraling tubes of Zircaloy-4 housed in a structural container of vanadium alloy (V-15 Ti-5 Cr). The Zircaloy tubes are cooled by a mixture of light and heavy water with 9 g of LiOH per 100 cm/sup 3/ of water dissolved in the coolant. A major issue for the feasibility of the integrated blanket coil concept is the chemical compatibility of the coolant and Zircaloy. Initial corrosion tests have been undertaken in order to resolve this question. Results clearly show that successful alloy heats can be prepared, for which corrosion problems will probably not be the limiting factor of the ASCB design concept. As is quite well known from fission engineering studies, small variations in the alloy compositions or in the metallurgical structure may, however, be able to cause significant alterations in the oxidation or corrosion rates. Further tests will be necessary to resolve the remaining uncertainties and to determine the behavior of successful alloy heats in the presence of trace impurities in order to address the sensitivity to localized corrosion phenomena such as pitting, stress corrosion cracking, and intergranular attack.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Leuven, Belgium
• OSTI ID: 5509066
• Report Number(s): CONF-860610-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 52
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700201* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Blanket Engineering
700204 -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Cooling Systems
700209 -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Component Development & Materials Testing
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALLOYS
AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS
BREEDING BLANKETS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
COOLANTS
COOLING SYSTEMS
CORROSION
DISPERSIONS
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
ENERGY SYSTEMS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROXIDES
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM HYDROXIDES
MAGNETIC MIRROR TYPE REACTORS
MARS REACTOR
MIXTURES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
SOLUTIONS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TIN ALLOYS
VANADIUM ALLOYS
ZIRCALOY
ZIRCALOY 4
ZIRCONIUM ALLOYS
ZIRCONIUM BASE ALLOYS