High-temperature Hydrogen Permeation in Nickel Alloys
In gas cooled Very High Temperature Reactor concepts, tritium is produced as a tertiary fission product and by activation of graphite core contaminants, such as lithium; of the helium isotope, He-3, that is naturally present in the He gas coolant; and the boron in the B4C burnable poison. Because of its high mobility at the reactor outlet temperatures, tritium poses a risk of permeating through the walls of the intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) or steam generator (SG) systems, potentially contaminating the environment and in particular the hydrogen product when the reactor heat is utilized in connection with a hydrogen generation plant. An experiment to measure tritium permeation in structural materials at temperatures up to 1000 C has been constructed at the Idaho National Laboratory Safety and Tritium Applied Research (STAR) facility within the Next Generation Nuclear Plant program. The design is based on two counter flowing helium loops to represent heat exchanger conditions and was optimized to allow control of the materials surface condition and the investigation of the effects of thermal fatigue. In the ongoing campaign three nickel alloys are being considered because of their high-temperature creep properties, alloy 617, 800H and 230. This paper introduces the general issues related to tritium in the on-going assessment of gas cooled VHTR systems fission product transport and outlines the planned research activities in this area; outlines the features and capabilities of the experimental facility being operated at INL; presents and discusses the initial results of hydrogen permeability measurements in two of the selected alloys and compares them with the available database from previous studies.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1010684
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-10-19785; TRN: US201108%%514
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 5th International Conference on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2010),Prague, Czech Republic,10/18/2010,10/20/2010
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALLOYS
BORON
BUILDING MATERIALS
BURNABLE POISONS
CREEP
FISSION PRODUCTS
GASES
GRAPHITE
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HELIUM
HELIUM ISOTOPES
HYDROGEN
LITHIUM
NICKEL ALLOYS
PERMEABILITY
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
SAFETY
STEAM GENERATORS
THERMAL FATIGUE
TRITIUM
high temperature reactor
hydrogen
nickel alloys
tritium permeation