Surface coatings are essential in all facilities that process nuclear materials or use nuclear fission for power generation. This article describes the coatings used in two basic types of Generation 3 nuclear reactor designs in the United States and their containment size. These reactors are the boiling water reactor (BWR) and pressurized water reactor (PWR). The article provides information on the loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) identified as the design basis accident (DBA), which can rapidly de-water the core of an operating nuclear reactor. To avoid LOCA, both the BWR and the PWR include emergency core cooling systems. The article describes a DBA test and other coating performance parameters necessary for safety-related coating systems. It provides a detailed account of the selection criteria of coating types in a nuclear plant. The article concludes by highlighting protective coating strategies in Generation 3 Plants.

Nuclear power plants benefit from thermal spray coatings for corrosion and erosion minimization and dimensional restoration of worn parts. This article provides a detailed discussion on the advantages of thermal spray coatings, fission reactor component coatings, and coatings for nuclear fuel processing before and after irradiation for power plant applications. Nuclear fusion research is divided into two primary fields of study categorized by the method for confining the fusion fuel: magnetic confinement fusion and inertial confinement fusion.

This article describes the corrosion mechanisms, challenges, and control methods in service water distribution systems. It provides a discussion on typical designs and water qualities for distribution systems used in fossil-fueled and nuclear power plants. The article also explains the techniques for controlling corrosion in service water systems.

This article discusses the main materials and water chemistry characteristics of the primary and secondary water circuits of a pressurized water reactor (PWR). It reviews the corrosion issues of PWR materials and the influence of corrosion and fouling on primary and secondary circuit radiation fields. The article explains the primary side intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) in different materials, namely, nickel-base alloys, high-strength nickel-base alloys, low-strength austenitic stainless steels, and high-strength stainless steels. The secondary side corrosion in steam generator including denting, pitting, intergranular attack and IGSCC is also discussed. The article examines laboratory studies that have resulted in models and computer codes for evaluating and predicting intergranular corrosion, and considers the remedial actions for preventing or arresting intergranular corrosion. It concludes with information on the external bolting corrosion in nuclear power reactors.

This article provides a summary of the concepts discussed in the Section “Corrosion in Specific Industries” in the ASM Handbook, Volume 13C:Corrosion: Environments and Industries. This Section applies the fundamental understanding of corrosion and knowledge of materials of construction to practical applications. The industries addressed are nuclear power, fossil and alternative fuel, land transportation, air transportation, microelectronics, chemical processing, pulp and paper, food and beverage, pharmaceutical and medical technology, petroleum and petrochemical, building, and mining and metal processing.

This article reviews a series of serious corrosion problems that have plagued the light water reactor (LWR) industry. It discusses the complex corrosion mechanisms involved, and the development of practical engineering solutions for their mitigation. The article contains tables that present the corrosion history of LWRs, and the ten most expensive operation and maintenance costs of corrosion for a particular reactor site.

This article defines quality, quality assurance, quality control, and quality management of processes, products, and services. It describes the evolution of quality control and quality assurance in the coatings industry. The article also discusses the standards, quality programs, and certifications in the coatings industry.

This article focuses on the environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) of structural materials in boiling water reactors (BWRs), reactor pressure vessels, core internals, and ancillary piping. It discusses the effects of water chemistry on materials degradation, mitigation approaches, and their impact on aging management programs. The article reviews the effects of materials, environment, and stress factors on the cracking susceptibility of ferritic and austenitic structural alloys in BWRs. It describes the methods, such as data-based life-prediction approaches and mechanisms-informed life-prediction approaches, for predicting cracking kinetics in BWRs. The article provides information on several EAC mitigation techniques for BWR components, namely material solutions, stress solutions, and environmental solutions.

Both nondestructive testing (NDT) and nondestructive evaluation (NDE) use noninvasive measurement techniques to gain information about defects and various properties of materials, components, and structures. This article begins with a discussion on the historical development of quantitative measurement techniques, evaluation reliability, and quantitative interpretation of nondestructive inspection methods. The common nondestructive evaluation methods, along with their uses and limitations, are summarized in a table. The article conceptually illustrates the interplay of NDE and fracture mechanics in the damage tolerant approach. It concludes with information on pressure vessel applications that can be separated into three protocols used by military nuclear power, commercial nuclear power, and non-nuclear pressure vessels and/or fired boilers.

Cr-Mo steels are preferred in the construction of high-temperature components because they possess excellent strength, toughness, and corrosion resistance relative to carbon steels and most low-alloy steels. This article discusses the composition and metallurgy of the heat-resistant Cr-Mo steels. It details the Charpy V-notch (CVN) toughness properties of Cr-Mo steels relevant to fatigue and fracture resistance. The fracture mechanics of Cr-Mo steels are reviewed. The article analyzes the characterization of low-cycle fatigue based on fatigue damage calculations. It concludes with information on fatigue crack growth and fatigue behavior of weldments.

This article examines the understanding of persistent material changes produced in stainless alloys during light water reactor (LWR) irradiation based on the fundamentals of radiation damage and existing experimental measurements. It summarizes the overall trends and correlations for irradiation-assisted stress-corrosion cracking. The article addresses the effects of various radiation factors on corrosion. These include radiation-induced segregation at grain boundaries, radiation hardening, mode of deformation, radiation creep relaxation, and radiolysis. The article discusses a variety of approaches for mitigating stress-corrosion cracking in LWRs, in categories of water chemistry, operating guidelines, new alloys, design issues, and stress mitigation. It concludes with a discussion on the irradiation effects of irradiation on corrosion of zirconium alloys in LWR environments.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a form of radio frequency spectroscopy based on interactions between nuclear magnetic dipole or electric quadrupole moments and an applied magnetic field or electric-field gradient. This article provides an overview of the fundamental principles of nuclear magnetic resonance with emphasis on nuclei properties, the basic equation of nuclear magnetic resonance, the classical theory of nuclear magnetization, line broadening, and measurement sensitivity. It describes the pulse-echo method for observing NMR. The article provides useful information on ferromagnetic nuclear resonance and nuclear quadrupole resonance, and illustrates the experimental arrangement of NMR with a block diagram. It also presents several application examples.

This article provides a discussion on the fundamentals of corrosion thermodynamics. The discussion focuses on electrochemical reactions, molten salt corrosion thermodynamics, and geochemical modeling.

This article focuses on the application of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in materials science, especially for inorganic and organic polymer solids. It begins with a discussion on the general principles of NMR, providing information on nuclear spin descriptions and line narrowing and spectral resolution and describing the impact of magnetic field on nuclear spins and the factors determining resonance frequency. This is followed by a description of various systems and equipment necessary for NMR spectroscopy. A discussion on general sampling for solid-state NMR, sample-spinning requirements, and extraneous signals is then included. Various factors pertinent to accurate calibration of the NMR spectrum are also described. The article provides information on some of the parameters both beneficial and problematic for processing NMR data. It ends with a description of the applications of NMR in glass science and ceramics.

Electron spin resonance (ESR), or electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), is an analytical technique that can extract a great deal of information from any material containing unpaired electrons. This article explains how ESR works and where it applies in materials characterization. It describes a typical ESR spectrometer and explains how to tune it to optimize critical electromagnetic interactions in the test sample. It also identifies compounds and elements most suited for ESR analysis and explains how to extract supplementary information from test samples based on the time it takes electrons to return to equilibrium from their resonant state. Two of the most common methods for measuring this relaxation time are presented as are several application examples.

Geochemical modeling is being used to understand and predict scaling, susceptibility to corrosion, atmospheric corrosion rates, acid rain, corrosion film solubility, and environmental impacts of aqueous species in runoff. This article discusses the principles, limitations, and applications of the modeling. It explains how to calculate the chemical equilibrium in geochemical modeling and provides information on modeling features.

This article provides a discussion on general nondestructive evaluation (NDE) science and considerations for specific technique selection. It explains the basic concept of flaw detection and evaluation and probability of detection. The article provides an overview of NDE methods with their applications, limitations, and advantages. It includes details on NDE codes, calibration standards, inspection frequency, guidance on how to perform inspections, applicability, and mandatory and nonmandatory practice. The article also provides tips on where to focus inspections in order to align with the likely areas of damage or degradation and a number of other aspects of inspection.

The components used in light water reactors (LWR) often remain in contact with the primary coolant, whose typical temperatures and pressures are highly aggressive, therefore, initiating corrosion in most of the alloys. This article describes the corrosion behavior of zirconium alloys in water and heat flow conditions that causes irradiation on the zirconium alloy assemblies. It discusses the effect of irradiation on the microstructure and morphology of cladded linings. The article describes the impact of metallurgical parameters on the oxidation resistance of zirconium alloys. It concludes with a discussion on LWR coolant chemistry and corrosion of fuel rods in reactors.

Upset welding (UW) is a resistance welding process utilizing both heat and deformation to form a weld. A wide variety of shapes and materials can be joined using upset welding in either a single-pulse or continuous mode. This article discusses the advantages and disadvantages of upset welding, as well as the types of welds. The advantages include speed, ease of control, fewer defects, enhanced weld properties, simplicity of equipment, less-strict composition requirements, and ability to join difficult-to-weld materials. The article reviews the role of a homopolar generator as an alternative method for supplying the electrical current for upset welding.

The steam turbine is the simplest and most efficient engine for converting large amounts of heat energy into mechanical work. This article discusses the primary corrosion mechanisms such as corrosion fatigue, stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), pitting, corrosion, and erosion-corrosion, in steam turbines. It illustrates the various causes of the corrosiveness of the steam turbine environments through a Mollier diagram. The article describes the four parts of design disciplines that affect turbine corrosion, namely, mechanical design, heat transfer, flow and thermodynamics, and physical shape. It lists the ways to control the steam and surface chemistry, and design and material improvements to minimize turbine corrosion.