Investigation of causes of a failed steam jet and devising an improved jet design

Shimizu, Ryo ; Takaya, Akikazu; Shirozu, Hidetomo ; Uchida, Naoki; Tanaka, Kosuke  ; Yamaguchi, Akira; Aoto, Kazumi ; Watahiki, Masaru

It was occurred that process solution leaked from the steam jet in the acid recovery process of Tokai reprocessing plant. So we retrieved the jet from the cell and observed the inside. As a result, it was revealed that a defect by corrosion, which penetrated the inside of the structure, arose from the steam nozzle root in the suction room of the jet. To ascertain why such failure occurred, we carried out observation of metallurgical structure of the jet, an analysis of temperature distribution of the structure involving verification using mock-ups and evaluation of material by corrosion test. Consequently, the origin of the corrosion defect was pin hole which was occurred on the surface of the end of the material at the steam nozzle root, where nitric acid fluid was contacted, and then the defect progressed along the temperature of about 120 of the structure. Anisotropy of the material, possibly originating in the manufacturing process, was observed from the result of evaluation of material by corrosion test. Finally, we devised a new design of improved corrosion resistance on the result of the whole investigations.