Abstract
A novel in-situ approach has been developed to deposit noble metals on surfaces of materials commonly used in the nuclear power generating industry. The method involves the injection of a noble metal chemical solution directly into the high temperature water that is in contact with a metal surface to be coated with the noble metal. An effective noble metal coating on a surface can be achieved by maintaining the noble metal concentration at a level of 10 to 100 ppb over a period of 48 hours during the injection process. The surface concentration of the noble metal after the treatment was 2 to 3 atomic %, and the noble metal was present to a depth of 200 to 500 Å. The concept of noble metal chemical addition (NMCA) technology was successfully used to create a " noble metal like " surface on three of the major nuclear materials, 304 SS, Alloy 600 and Alloy 182. The success of this technology was demonstrated by using constant extension rate tensile (CERT) tests, crack growth rate (CGR) tests and electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) response tests. The NMCA technology in combination with hydrogen has successfully decreased the ECP of surfaces below the critical cracking potential of -0.230 V(SHE), and prevented both crack initiation and crack propagation in simulated boiling water reactor (BWR) environments.
