Consideration on stress corrosion cracking evaluation of zirconium for Fuel Reprocessing Facilities

Hashikura, Yasuaki*; Ishijima, Yasuhiro ; Nakahara, Masaumi; Sano, Yuichi  ; Ueno, Fumiyoshi  ; Abe, Hitoshi 

A plutonium concentrator was selected, and constant load tensile tests with controlled applied potentials and electrochemical tests were conducted in nitric acid and sodium nitrate solutions. From the results, a map which shows the effect of nitric acid concentration to crack initiation potential was drawn. And, it was pointed out that not only the nitric acid but also the nitrate ion coordinated to the nitrate must be considered in evaluating the possibility of stress corrosion cracking.