Argonne Model Boiler Facility: Topical Report (NUREG/CR-6880, ANL-04/29)

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Publication Information

Manuscript Completed: May 2005
Date Published: July 2005

Prepared by:
K.E. Kasza, J.J. Oras, B.L. Fisher,
J.Y. Park, J.E. Franklin, and W.J. Shack
Argonne National Laboratory
9700 South Cass Avenue
Argonne, Illinois 60439

J. Davis, NRC Project Manager

Prepared for:
Division of Engineering Technology
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC 20555-0001

NRC Job Code Y6588

Availability Notice

Abstract

A model boiler has been developed to simulate prototypical thermal hydraulics and bulk chemistry conditions on the secondary side of steam generators in pressurized water reactors. The facility produces prototypic crevice conditions by simultaneously matching both crevice heat flux and temperature. The model boiler is a simplified design involving no circulating primary or secondary loops. It is designed for unattended long-term operation. This report describes the design, operation, and shakedown testing of the model boiler. Stable operation with primary and secondary temperatures/pressures reasonably prototypical of actual steam generators and yielding prototypic across-tube heat fluxes has been demonstrated using multiple Alloy 600 tube test assemblies [0.30-m (12-in.) long, 22.2-mm (7/8-in.) diameter]. The facility secondary chamber has been fitted with steam-generator tube/instrumented crevice simulator ring test assemblies, and the first chemical hideout benchmarking tests involving 20-ppm NaOH additions to the bulk secondary water have been initiated. The model boiler will be used to better determine the physical and chemical conditions in crevices in the secondary side of steam generators as a function of bulk water chemistry and the thermal hydraulic conditions expected at different locations in steam generators. The crevice chemistry and physical conditions established from the model boiler studies will be used in other laboratory test systems to establish stress corrosion cracking (SCC) initiation times and crack growth rates of Alloy 600 and 690 specimens. This crack initiation and growth rate data will be used to develop predictive models. Once the predictive models are developed, the model boiler could be used to experimentally validate the models.