Corrosion problems relating to the use of zirconium in reactors are discussed in terms of corrosion rate transition and hydrogen pickup. The phenomenological aspects and the resultant practical implications are related to limitations in reactor performance. The effect of irradiation is shown to be important and not too well-defined. The rate of hydrogen pickup and its interaction with radiation damage and structural characteristics of zirconium are discussed with respect to degradation of mechanical behavior. Justification of columbium can be achieved only for superheat steam or liquid metal-cooled reactors. The kinetics and phenomenology of high temperature steam corrosion are presented. The limiting factor appears to be oxygen contamination and subsequent embrittlement due to rapid diffusion of oxygen at superheat temperatures. The oxygen sensitivity of liquid metal corrosion appears to be limiting for space power nuclear reactors. 8.4.5, 6.3.20, 6.3.5
Corrosion Problems in the Use of Zirconium And Columbium Alloys in Nuclear Reactors* Available to Purchase
D. L. DOUGLASS, is senior metallurgist on the Vallecitos Atomic Laboratory Staff, General Electric Company, Pleasanton, Calif. He was recently transferred from the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory where he was Supervising Metallurgist, Alloy Studies. Dr. Douglass was formerly associated with both Battelle Institute and DuPont at the Savannah River Laboratory. He received BS and MS degrees from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in Metallurgy from Ohio State. Dr. Douglass, also a member of the faculty at Ohio State, served as chairman of the 1960 AIME Columbium Symposium and was editor of the conference proceedings. He has published a number of papers on uranium alloys, zirconium alloys, and on columbium alloys. He is a member of AIME and ASM.
