Table Of ContentIAEA-TECDOC-429
REACTOR WATER CHEMISTRY
RELEVANT TO
COOLANT-CLADDING INTERACTION
A TECHNICAL DOCUMENT ISSUED BY THE
INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 1987
REACTOR WATER CHEMISTRY RELEVANT TO
COOLANT-CLADDING INTERACTION
IAEA, VIENNA, 1987
IAEA-TECDOC-429
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September 1987
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FOREWORD
e hrTepa ossrui etm hwmtoa rfroky perfora m fneraida fmoe
Coordinated Research Program organized by the IAEA and carried out
from 1981 till 19t 8Ic6o. na r s sukifuonsor ot vnweoly edngoe
coolant-cladding interaction: the basic phenomena, the relevant
parameters, their control and the modelling techniques implemented
for their assessment.
Basede ruheptso un fltoth sis Coordinated Research Program,
the following top erirace es vhrtiee pwnoeordt :
- rf owola eter chemisn trire yliable operatf inoou nclear
power plants
- water chemistry specifications and their control
- behaviour of fuel cladding materials
- corrosion product behaviour and crud build-up in reactor
circuits
- modelling of corrosion product behaviour
This report f iosn hteoeubro lew tdsa tter chemistry
supervisors at the power plants, to experts in utitility engineering
departmento stf, uel desiO g&niRen rsotsti, tutes eahctt invie
e chotn soutlt afdf nintoetah lse dse organizations.
EDITORIAL NOTE
In preparing this mae thpetrr rieoasfls e h,I tns fttoaefrf national Atomic Energy Agency
have moud npnteaadg ine ahotetrdi ginal manuscrs ipsautse bhamtuit d thygtnboeiadrv se n
some attene tphitor oent sentation.
The views expressed in the papers, the statements made and the general style adopted are
e htresponsibile ihtnt fyoa med author ehsvT. iet wonn osde cessarily reflect tho ehsgt efoo vern-
ments of the Member States or organizations under whose auspices the manuscripts were produced.
The use in this book of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any
judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of
their authorid tiinenass t eidhtute tlfiioom rniost atiof otnh eir boundaries.
The mention of specific companies or of their products or brand names does not imply any
endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA.
Authorse ra themselves responsibler of obtaininge ht necessary permissiono t reproduce
copyright material from other sources.
CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 7
1.1. History of the CCI program ................................................................... 7
1.2. Role of water chemistry in reliable operation of nuclear power plants ............... 9
. 2 WATER CHEMISTRY SPECIFICATIOND NTSAH EIR CONTROL ..................51...
R prWimaPr2y. 1 .water chemistry specifications ...................................5..1........ .
2.2. BWR reactor and feed water chemistry specifications .................................... 26
2.3. Water cleaning control systems ............................................................... 33
2.4. Monitoring water chemistry ...........................................................9..3......
. 3BEHAV FIFOOUUERL CLADDING MATERIALS ..............................2...4........ .
3.1. Waterside corrosion of fuel cladding ........................................................ 42
3.2. Hydrogen absorption ............................................................................05
3.3. Accident conditions ..........................................................................1.5...
. 4 CORROSION PRODUCT BEHAVIOUD NRCA RUD BUILD-UPNI
REACTOR CIRCUITS ...............................................................................7.5
4.1. Migrati dondane positiof onc orrosion producd ntiasm purities ....................7.5...
4.2. Modellinf ogc orrosion product behaviod nucarr ud build-unpi
PR WWcBi rdRnca uits .....................................................................6.6..
5. CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................ 79
ANNEX I: ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES FOR MONITORING WATER
CHEMISTRY ................................................................................. 81
ANNEX II: MODELLING THE BEHAVIOUR OF CORROSION PRODUCTS IN
THE PRIMARY HEAT TRANSFER CIRF CPUROIETSS SURIZED
WATER REACTORS - A REVIEW OF PRINCIPLES ............................. 105
ANNEX III: A REVIEW OF MODELS DESCRIBING THE BEHAVIOUR OF
CORROSION PRODU NCPRTIIS MARY HEAT TRANSFER
CIRCUITS OF BWRs ...................................................................... 165
1. INTRODUCTION
1 .1 Histor ICCy eht foP rogram
The CCI Program is a Coordinated Research Program which has
been pursued over the period 1981 to 1986; its official title being
"Investigation of Fuel Element Cladding Interaction with Water
Coolant in Power Reactors". This program was not defined to satisfy
a precipitant decisiony b technocrats:e ht saw ti responsefo
concerned expere httg ostr owing perceptie hotc fnoh allenges
arising from improved fuel utilization.
e IhATEA inie tff hiiWe oateagtrlt uideaivnrde iesRd e,actor
Fn aua edylvbsi sory bo edhIytn, ternational Working Gron uoFp uel
Performance and Technology ("IWGFPT"). This IWGFPT is made up of
experts representn iIanA gEA Membe nria nS ttreaortn eational
organie zdhaitTsicouns .sions e dIuhWrtGieFn PhgTt s edssniaon s
conferences, symposia, specialists meetings, technical committees
and consultant meetings organized by the IAEA in line with IWGFPT's
recommendations shed lign hotf uel related technical areas wherae
specific IAEA initiative woue lbwd elcome.
Such a sequence of events was operative in the case of the CCI
Proge rhta7 m0nI'. se h,tt hermal hydraulic operating conditionfos
the coolant were stretched in the most recent power plants to
improve their efficiency. Simultaneously,e ht economic advantages
f iomproving fuel ue tihintlhi ezrdaentniato nmarg ficono smmercial
fuel fostered a progressive increase of discharge burn-ups as well
as possibilities of load following in most power plants. The
resulting longer fuel residence times and the more aggressive
coolant conditions highlighted life limitation features resulting
from coolant-cladding interaction: corrosid onno nd(uulnaairf)o rm
and crud deposits (capable of influencing cladding corrosion).
e hT awarenessf o these life limitation phenomena del interested
members of the IWGFPT to suggest, in 1979, that the IAEA should
esfuhritveel yd, inves etiihngtvaot leved phenomed nocnolanotg ryol
systems,d na reporte ht se htt rbofa terat enhte feo fiehtt fo
Member States. The CCI Coordinated Research Program ("CRP") was
launcn h1ie9 d80, s stpaauwrn r t1side9un d8ead1 until 1e9h8T6.
present report is the final summary of this action.
I CpCr oehgTrs aaswmu b-divided int4 o tasks implemented
succe ewhsotsr ikvs eape lrf hyootgl rledoswnsiaen dg four areas
were defined:
Task 1 "Survey of fuel element cladding interaction with water
coolant in power reactors" included the formulation of a survey
questionnaire,e ht evaluatioe htn for esponsesy b experts,eht
summae rihintzfa otfriomoa ntion ina ts ourvey report "Fuel Cladding
Interaction with Water Coon lPaionw ters tRiea cdtonras "
publication as IAEA-TECDOC-356 in 1985. The results of this Task 1
are reflectn eisd ections 1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1.14 ,d n3a. 23.,3
ofe ht present report.
Task 2 "Analytical techniques for monitoring Water Chemistry
in Power Reactors", was launched in 1982, as a result of the
question marks appearing during the progress of Task 1. It
consisted of the formulation of a questionnaire and summarizing the
responses. The outcome is reflected in section 2.4 and
e phrets enfto Ar neInpeo xrt.
Task 3 "Modelling of corrosion products and crud build-up in
water-cooled reactor circus ilatawsut "bnin ec1 chi9eas 8mdae3
apparent that powerful models were developer odb eing developenid
several Member Stao tdtee sal e wphirtte hdicd tuninaod nerstanding
e ht pfohenomenae .hT revR WBi dmnae oRWPw dfo elling approachessi
ephrte sfenot IrreIefpIlo erdcn t dCtni.Anhean aadn p etI4xeIe r s
Task 4 "Summary of the results of the CRP" was launched in
1984, as it became apparent that the findings of this CCI should be
organized in an orderly manner for the benefit of the Member States
ande ht Institutes which havet on been directly connectedeht ot
CRP. It has resulted in the present report.
Beinga generic overvi ehet sfwo ituatie oht pnyb articipants
based on their own expertize and on technical reports published
earlier (IAEA TECDOC - 356) or incorporated as Annexes 2 and 3, it
t ofnou nsda wapproprio artte epeat bibliographical referenncie s
the report itself. The reader is therefore provided in this report
n ewaxia htd athiuogsentse itthvdeotepdn i atcvne sioceh wnical
review.
This 5 year study period of the CRP and the results thereof
e parthiciptating e fcollhoabwoerrtae t ioonn ly poossibtle th anks
Member States and the individuals who have contributed to the work,
mainly:
Argentina: A J. G. Maroto
Belgium: H. Bairiot, P. Blanpain, M. Lippens and J. Van Vliet
Bulga. rDiIoa b:revsky
Czechoslovakia: J. Kysela
Finland: J. Hakala
United Kingdom: P. Campion, G. Comley, D. J. Ferrett, M. V. Polley,
. TWh o.r. nREStoR od.dnlinfaf e
Hungary:. A Elek,. F Molnar,. E Szabo. J dna Schunk
India: M. Das, S. H. Gadiyar, P. K. Mathur, S. V. Narasimhan,
. VGe. nVSke antk.eaKrt sedwsawnraaar lnu
Japa. nKI: shingure. Y,M ishima. Y,M eguro
Romania: G. Semenescu
Soviet Uni. oAK n.hY: itrov .,V Krit. IsR dkynayb alchenko
IAEA: A. Nechaev, N. Noe, V. Onufriev and I. Rybalchenko.
2 f.WRoa1otl eer Chen mRieisltir ayble Operf aNtouico lnear Power
Plants
At present and for the near future nuclear power development in
the world is based mainly upon water-cooled reactors. In nuclear
power plants wa na s etusiuesa trer don mo adre erdaanctatoo rr
coolant, in the secondary circuit (PWRs and PHWRs) and in a number
of auxiliary systems. At elevated temperatures water is an
aggressive substance when in contact with structural materials.
This means that the reliability of many nuclear power plant systems
is dependent upon water quality ws heiisc phecially critical nwhie n
