Oxide Fouling Mitigation Technology in BWR

摘要

An oxide build-up on the inside of the nozzles and inlet-mixers of BWR jet pumps has been reported and is known to be caused by charged particles suspended in the coolant which interact with the metallic surface. This charge creates an electrostatic potential that attracts the suspended particles in the coolant to the metallic surface where they form a layer of particle contaminants.Experimental results showed that, in high temperature, high purity water, a TiO_2 coating reduces the oxide fouling rate on 304 SS surface under BWR water chemistry conditions at high flow rate. This paper provides a fundamental description of oxide fouling mechanism and demonstrates methods for mitigating electrostatic deposition of charged particles from the high temperature, high purity water on the metal surface.