Evaluation of Materials' Corrosion and Chemistry Issues for Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor Steam Generators Using Full Scale Plant Simulations

Abstract

Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors (AGRs) employ once-through steam generators of unique design to provide steam at approximately 530 °C and 155 bar to steam turbines of similar design to those of fossil plants. The steam generators are highly compact, and have either a serpentine or helical tube geometry. The tubes are heated on the outside by hot CO₂ gas, and steam is generated on the inside of the tubes. Each individual steam generator tube consists of a carbon steel feed and primary economiser section, a 9%Cr steel secondary economiser, evaporator and primary superheater, and a Type 316L austenitic stainless steel secondary superheater, all within a single tube pass.

The multi-material nature of the individual tube passes, the need to maintain specific thermohydraulic conditions within the different material sections, and the difficulties of steam generator inspection and repair, have required extensive corrosion-chemistry test programmes to ensure waterside corrosion does not present a challenge to their integrity. A major part of these programmes has been the use of a full scale steam generator test facility capable of simulating all aspects of the waterside conditions which exist in the plant. This facility has been used to address a wide variety of possible plant damage/degradation processes. These include; single- and two-phase flow accelerated corrosion of carbon steel, superheat margins requirements and the stress-corrosion behaviour of the austenitic superheaters, on-load corrosion of the evaporator materials, and iron transport and oxide deposition behaviour. The paper outlines a number of these, and indicates how they have been of value in helping to maintain reliable operation of the plant.