Understanding the reaction of nuclear graphite with molecular oxygen: Kinetics, transport, and structural evolution
Abstract
A thorough understanding of oxidation is important when considering the health and integrity of graphite components in a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor after an unlikely air-ingress. Such considerations are deemed significant enough to have made their way into the licensing application. While a substantial body of literature exists on nuclear graphite oxidation and significant efforts have been made to characterize oxidation rates of various grades, the value of most existing information is limited. Often, multiple competing processes are lumped together that drastically inhibit the ability to translate this information to different conditions. This article reviews the reaction of graphite with molecular oxygen in terms of the reaction kinetics, gas transport, and structural evolution of graphite. It also presents the foundations of a universally applicable oxidation model, independent of graphite grade, which is capable of describing both the bulk and local oxidation rates under a wide range of conditions applicable to air-ingress.
- Authors:
-
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Reactor Fleet and Advanced Reactor Development. Nuclear Reactor Technologies
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1376520
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1470333; OSTI ID: 1550310
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-16-40729-Rev000
Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; AC07-05ID14517
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Nuclear Materials
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 493; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0022-3115
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY; Graphite; oxidation; universal model; microstructure; kinetics; mass transport; structural evolution; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; graphite
Citation Formats
Kane, Joshua J., Contescu, Cristian I., Smith, Rebecca E., Strydom, Gerhard, and Windes, William E. Understanding the reaction of nuclear graphite with molecular oxygen: Kinetics, transport, and structural evolution. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.06.001.
Kane, Joshua J., Contescu, Cristian I., Smith, Rebecca E., Strydom, Gerhard, & Windes, William E. Understanding the reaction of nuclear graphite with molecular oxygen: Kinetics, transport, and structural evolution. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.06.001
Kane, Joshua J., Contescu, Cristian I., Smith, Rebecca E., Strydom, Gerhard, and Windes, William E. Thu .
"Understanding the reaction of nuclear graphite with molecular oxygen: Kinetics, transport, and structural evolution". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.06.001. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1376520.
@article{osti_1376520,
title = {Understanding the reaction of nuclear graphite with molecular oxygen: Kinetics, transport, and structural evolution},
author = {Kane, Joshua J. and Contescu, Cristian I. and Smith, Rebecca E. and Strydom, Gerhard and Windes, William E.},
abstractNote = {A thorough understanding of oxidation is important when considering the health and integrity of graphite components in a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor after an unlikely air-ingress. Such considerations are deemed significant enough to have made their way into the licensing application. While a substantial body of literature exists on nuclear graphite oxidation and significant efforts have been made to characterize oxidation rates of various grades, the value of most existing information is limited. Often, multiple competing processes are lumped together that drastically inhibit the ability to translate this information to different conditions. This article reviews the reaction of graphite with molecular oxygen in terms of the reaction kinetics, gas transport, and structural evolution of graphite. It also presents the foundations of a universally applicable oxidation model, independent of graphite grade, which is capable of describing both the bulk and local oxidation rates under a wide range of conditions applicable to air-ingress.},
doi = {10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.06.001},
journal = {Journal of Nuclear Materials},
number = C,
volume = 493,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 08 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Thu Jun 08 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
Web of Science
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Works referencing / citing this record:
Investigation on the oxidation behavior and multi-step reaction mechanism of nuclear graphite SNG742
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