Diamond Coating Reduces Nuclear Fuel Rod Corrosion at Accidental Temperatures: The Role of Surface Electrochemistry and Semiconductivity.

ABSTRACT: If we want to decrease the probability of accidents in nuclear reactors, we must control the surface corrosion of the fuel rods. In this work we used a diamond coating containing <60% diamond and >40% sp2 "soft" carbon phase to protect Zr alloy fuel rods (ZIRLO®) against corrosion in steam at temperatures from 850 °C to 1000 °C. A diamond coating was grown in a pulse microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition apparatus and made a strong barrier against hydrogen uptake into ZIRLO® (ZIRLO) under all tested conditions. The coating also reduced ZIRLO corrosion in hot steam at 850 °C (for 60 min) and at 900 °C (for 30 min). However, the protective ability of the diamond coating decreased after 20 min in 1000 °C hot steam. The main goal of this work was to explain how diamond and sp2 "soft" carb

SUBMITTER: Celbova L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8585298 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature