Corrosion product deposits on boiling-water reactor cladding: Experimental and theoretical investigation of magnetic properties

Abstract Recent Eddy current investigations on the cladding of nuclear fuel pins have shown that the apparent oxide layers are falsified due to unexpected magnetic properties of corrosion product deposits. Analyses by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) or Electron Probe Micro Analysis (EPMA) demonstrated that the deposit layer consists of complex 3-d element oxides (Ni, Mn, Fe) along with Zn, since the reactor operates with a Zn addition procedure to reduce buildup of radiation fields on the recirculation system surfaces. The oxides crystallise in ferritic spinel structures. These spinels are well-known for their magnetic behaviour. Since non-magnetic zinc ferrite (ZnFe 2 O 4 ) may become magnetic when doped with even small amounts of Ni and/or Mn, their occurrence in the deposit layer has been analyzed. The magnetic permeability of zinc ferrite, trevorite and jacobsite and their solid solutions are estimated by magnetic moment additivity. From the void history examination, the low elevation sample (810 mm) did not face significant boiling during the irradiation cycles suggesting growth of ( Mn 0.09 2 + Zn 0.75 2 + Fe 0.29 3 + ) [ ( Fe 1.71 3 + Mn 0.03 2 + Ni 0.13 2 + ) O 4 ] crystals with theoretical value of the magnetic permeability for the averaged heterogeneous CRUD layer of 9.5 ± 3. Meanwhile, ( Mn 0.16 2 + Zn 0.55 2 + Fe 0.29 3 + ) [ ( Fe 1.71 3 + Mn 0.04 2 + Ni 0.25 2 + ) O 4 ] crystallizes at the mid elevation (1810 mm) with theoretical magnetic permeability for the CRUD layer of 4.2 ± 1.5 at the investigated azimuthal location. These theoretical data are compared with the magnetic permeability of the corrosion product deposited layers gained from reactor pool side Eddy current (EC) analyses (9.0 ± 1.0 for low and 3.5 ± 1.0 for high elevation). The calculated thicknesses and magnetic permeability values of the deposition layers (estimated by MAGNACROX multifrequency EC method) match together with these estimated using an “ion magnetic moment additivity” model.