The Lead-Alloy Corrosion Study at KAERI

KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute) is developing an accelerator-driven transmutation system called HYPER (HYbrid Power Extraction Reactor). HYPER is the 1000MW_th system designed to transmute the long-lived TRU (Transuranic Elements) and FP (Fission Product) included in the PWR spent fuel. LBE (Lead-Bismuth Eutectic) is used as the spallation target and coolant material in HYPER. KAERI has also investigated the conceptual design of a lead-cooled fast reactor. Lead (Pb) is used as the coolant material in that reactor. The most significant problem is a corrosion when using the lead-alloy liquid metal in those reactors. Therefore, it is necessary to study the corrosion characteristics and develop the technology to protect the steel structure materials against a corrosion. KAERI has been developing the facilities needed to study the corrosion of lead-alloy. KAERI fabricated a static corrosion test facility in 2003. The static corrosion tests of HT-9, 316L and T91 have been performed at 600 °C and 650 °C since 2003. The Pb-Bi loop was constructed in 2006. The Pb-Bi loop is an isothermal loop which can be operated at temperatures up to 550 °C. The Pb loop is designed to be operated with ΔT = 150 °C (T_min = 450 °C and T_max = 600 °C). The first stage of the Pb loop construction was finished and operations began in 2006. We will complete the second stage of the Pb loop construction after testing the first stage Pb loop.