Several unscheduled shut downs of the Cruas nuclear power plant in France have been caused by the deposition of corrosion products in flow broaches of the steam generator tube support sheets. The depositions are theorised to be the result of electrokinetically stimulated deposition.
In this work, a hot water loop to replicate these depositions in the laboratory was built, along with rigs to characterise supporting phenomena – the corrosion rate of stainless steel and the solubility of the corrosion products.
While the data obtained from the hot water loop did not provide conclusive proof of the existence or prevalence of the electrokinetically stimulated deposition mechanism, evidence of deposition caused by cavitation was found.
The corrosion rate of stainless steel was measured at high temperatures in solutions of lithium hydroxide at various concentrations. Surface finish was found to have an effect on the corrosion rate, though the difference between mechanically ground surfaces with an order of magnitude difference in roughness was found to be minimal.
The solubility of the corrosion products formed was measured and found to be of similar order to that reported in the literature, however the minor alloying elements were found to leach from the surface in substantial quantities
