Effects of Irradiation on Corrosion and Environmentally Assisted Cracking

Abstract

A growing concern for electric power utilities worldwide has been the degradation of core components in nuclear power reactors, which provide approximately 17 % of the world’s electric power needs. Service failures have occurred in boiling water reactor (BWR) core components and, to a somewhat lesser extent, in pressurized water reactor (PWR) core components consisting of iron- and nickel-base stainless alloys that have achieved a significant neutron fluence in environments that span oxygenated to hydrogenated water at 270–340 °C. Because cracking susceptibility depends on many factors, such as alloy composition and microstructure, stress, radiation, and the environment, the failure mechanism has been termed irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC).