Formation of zinc corrosion products at water-chemical PWR post-LOCA conditions - Physicochemical effects

During loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) in pressurized water reactors (PWRs), coolant spilling from the leak in the primary cooling circuit is collected in the reactor sump and recirculated to the reactor core by low pressure injection pumps as part of the emergency core cooling system. The long-term contact of the boric acid containing coolant with hot-dip galvanized steel containment inter-nals (e.g. grating treads, channels, supporting grids of sump strainers) may cause corrosion of the corresponding materials influencing the cooling water chemistry due to dissolution of the zinc coating. Experimental investigations regarding the solubility of Zn corrosion products in boric acid solutions resulted in a decreasing solubility with increasing temperature. Thus, the formation of solid (i.e. particulate) corrosion products cannot be ruled out if the Zn containing coolant is heated up due to its recirculation into hot zones.
During lab-scale experiments, significant amounts of solid corrosion products have been found as deposited layers on hot surfaces as well as in the form of deposits at tubes, fittings and retaining components depending on formation temperature and hydrodynamic conditions. The solid corrosion products were identified as zinc borates. Depending on their forming temperature, different zinc borate compounds may occur having different physicochemical properties.
Although the kinetics of the processes obtained at lab-scale are not transferable to those proceeding during a PWR LOCA due to their dependency on the corroding surface area as well as on the local thermal hydraulics, the results give an insight into physicochemical processes, which might occur in case of zinc corrosion in cooling circuits.