Investigation of severe pitting of slugs and tubes in the Hanford piles

Technical Report · Mon Jun 07 04:00:00 EDT 1954

OSTI ID:6397288

Wilson, C D

During the summer of 1952 a series of leaking process tubes and badly pitted slugs was encountered in the Hanford piles. In August 1952, a program was initiated to determine the mechanism of the observed attack and to determine what corrective measures could be taken. Two suggested hypotheses, cavitation and erosion-corrosion, were considered the most practical explanations of the observed attack. Flow laboratory investigations of these hypotheses conclusively showed that erosion-corrosion in uninhibited process water was the cause of the excessive attack noted. The addition of an inhibitor, 2 ppM sodium dichromate, to the water resulted in the complete elimination of the erosion-corrosion attack on the aluminum slugs and tubes. 5 refs.

• Research Organization: Hanford Works, Richland, WA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/NE
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6397288
• Report Number(s): HW-31043-Rev.; ON: DE91002689
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
220700* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Plutonium & Isotope Production Reactors
ADDITIVES
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CHROMIUM COMPOUNDS
COOLING SYSTEMS
CORROSION
ENERGY SYSTEMS
EROSION
FEEDWATER
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL RODS
HANFORD PRODUCTION REACTORS
HAPO
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LEAKS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PITTING CORROSION
PLUTONIUM PRODUCTION REACTORS
PRODUCTION REACTORS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
REACTORS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TUBES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER
WATER CHEMISTRY