Redox conditions effect on flow accelerated corrosion: Influence of hydrazine and oxygen

Flow accelerated corrosion (FAC) of carbon steels has been studied world-wide for more than twenty years and is now fairly well understood. The influence of several parameters like water chemistry (i.e. pH and oxygen content), temperature, hydrodynamic or mass transfer conditions (i.e. flow velocity, geometry, steam quality..) and steel composition on the corrosion kinetics has been demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. However, the effect of a reducing environment and variable redox conditions have not yet been fully explored. It's well known that a reducing environment is effective in increasing the resistance of steam generator tubing to intergranular attack / stress corrosion cracking (IGA/SCC) and pitting. In that way, secondary water chemistry specifications have been modified from low hydrazine to high hydrazine chemistry in the steam-water circuit. Nevertheless, increasing hydrazine levels up to 200 {mu}g/kg could have a detrimental effect by potentially enhancing the FAC process. Moreover, in order to have a complete understanding of the possible impact of the water chemistry environment it is also important to consider the impact of redox conditions during shutdowns (cold and/or hot shutdowns) and start up periods when aerated water injections are made to maintain a constant water level in the Steam Generators from the auxiliary feedwater circuit. Therefore, a common EDF and EPRI R and D effort has been recently carried out to study the effects of hydrazine and oxygen on FAC. The results are presented as follows. (authors)