Corrosion in Heavy Liquid Metals for Energy Systems: Materials Compatibility with Liquid Metal Coolants III
Sponsored by: TMS Structural Materials Division, TMS: Corrosion and Environmental Effects Committee, TMS: Nuclear Materials Committee
Program Organizers: Osman Anderoglu, University of New Mexico; Alessandro Marino, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre; Michael Short, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Peter Hosemann, University of California, Berkeley; Mike Ickes, Westinghouse Electric Company
Tuesday 8:30 AM
March 16, 2021
Room: RM 20
Location: TMS2021 Virtual
Session Chair: Osman Anderoglu, University of New Mexico; Alessandro Marino, SCK-CEN
8:30 AM
Electromagnetic Flow Sensor for Heavy Liquid Metals for Energy Systems: Heng Ban1; Osman Anderoglu2; Cetin Unal3; 1University of Pittsburgh; 2University of New Mexico; 3Los Alamos National Lab
The challenge of sensors and instrumentation for heavy liquid metals such as molten lead and lead-bismuth eutectic comes from the high temperature and corrosive environment. While the demand for robust flow or velocity sensors is significant, most of the commercially available technologies tend to fail. The objective of this investigation is to design and optimize a flow sensor based on the electromagnetic wave interaction with a moving liquid conductor. The sensor principle is established based on the Maxwell equations and the Navier Stokes equations. The design parameters are explored with computational simulation and optimized for a lead flow loop that is being considered for testing. The results showed the effects of sensor geometry, material use, and noise shielding, and the level of sensitivity and uncertainty of the system. This study establishes the foundation for the development of this type of sensors in different applications.
8:50 AM
Review of Liquid Metal Corrosion Under Irradiation and Progress Report on the LBE-Irradiation-Corrosion Experiment (ICE): Franziska Schmidt1; Peter Hosemann1; 1University of California, Berkeley
The corrosion process in structural materials subjected to liquid metal (LM) corrosion and simultaneous irradiation is still poorly understood. Understanding coupled irradiation-corrosion (IC) effects relevant to LM-cooled reactors without access to test reactors must proceed via analogous experiments studying specific processes in structural and model materials. The experimental design for these accelerated studies strongly depends on the effects to be studied and the limitations of its transferability to real reactor conditions are not necessarily obvious. We will give an overview of IC studies in LM environments and discuss how lessons learned in aqueous IC experiments could aid our understanding of coupled IC effects in LM-cooled reactors. We will also present a progress update on the newest iteration of the Irradiation-Corrosion Experiment (ICE) III, which is designed to study metal thin foils under simultaneous corrosion and proton irradiation, including preliminary results of pure Fe exposed to LBE and 4 MeV protons.
9:10 AM
Preliminary Results on the Compatibility of Fe-Cr-Al and
Fe-Cr-Al-Mo Steels with Liquid Sodium at 700 °C.
: Marie Romedenne1; Rishi Pillai1; Bruce Pint1; 1ORNL
Continued interest exists in the development of sodium fast nuclear reactors, which are able to achieve higher operating temperatures (up to 700 °C) than light water reactors and promise a 60 year design life. As new materials are developed for other applications, their behavior in liquid sodium has not been explored. The corrosion behavior and post-exposure tensile properties of oxide dispersion strengthened FeCr, FeCrAl and FeCrAlMo steels were evaluated after 1,000 h exposures at 700 °C in commercially-sourced sodium with and without Zr foil to getter oxygen. The presence of oxygen in the liquid sodium led to the formation of NaCrO2 and AlNaO2 oxide scale which resulted, in some cases, to the formation of intermetallic phases in the underlying alloy. While NaCrO2 formation was observed to be detrimental to the tensile properties after exposure, further investigation is needed to evaluate the long-term effect of AlNaO2.
9:30 AM
Investigation on the Evaporation Rate of Liquid Lead and Radioisotope Retention Capability of Molten Lead as Coolant: Shuprio Ghosh1; Osman Anderoglu1; Cemal Cakez1; Khaled Talaat1; Keith Woloshun2; Michael Epstein3; Sung Lee4; Paolo Ferroni3; Emre Tatli3; Matthew Memmott5; 1University of New Mexico; 2Los Alamos National Laboratory; 3Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC; 4Fauske & Associates, LLC; 5Brigham Young University
Uncertainties regarding the radionuclide retention properties of molten lead in accident conditions have hampered the safety assessment and licensing process of Lead Cooled Fast Reactors (LFRs). The radionuclide retention capability of molten lead is largely influenced by its chemical properties and fluidic movement inside the reactor vessel. Lead aerosol is produced by vaporization of lead and is released into the argon cover gas region. Fission products present in the coolant may also be released as additional components of the lead aerosol. This current research on lead evaporation rate aims to improve existing knowledge in predicting the radioisotope (e.g. I, Cs, Sr etc) release into the cover gas region in an accident scenario.