Current fleets of conventional and nuclear power plants face increasing hostile environmental conditions due to increasingly high temperature operation for improved capacity and efficiency, and the need for long term service. Additional challenges are presented by the requirement to cycle plants to meet peak-load operation. This book presents a comprehensive review of structural materials in conventional and nuclear energy applications. Opening chapters address operational challenges and structural alloy requirements in different types of power plants. The following sections review power plant structural alloys and methods to mitigate critical materials degradation in power plants.

Current fleets of conventional and nuclear power plants face increasing hostile environmental conditions due to increasingly high temperature operation for improved capacity and efficiency, and the need for long term service. Additional challenges are presented by the requirement to cycle plants to meet peak-load operation. This book presents a comprehensive review of structural materials in conventional and nuclear energy applications. Opening chapters address operational challenges and structural alloy requirements in different types of power plants. The following sections review power plant structural alloys and methods to mitigate critical materials degradation in power plants.

High-performance alloys that can withstand operation in hazardous nuclear environments are critical to presentday in-service reactor support and maintenance and are foundational for reactor concepts of the future. With commercial nuclear energy vendors and operators facing the retirement of staff during the coming decades, much of the scholarly knowledge of nuclear materials pursuant to appropriate, impactful, and safe usage is at risk. Led by the multi-award winning editorial team of G. Robert Odette (UCSB) and Steven J. Zinkle (UTK/ORNL) and with contributions from leaders of each alloy discipline, Structural Alloys for Nuclear Energy Applications aids the next generation of researchers and industry staff developing and maintaining steels, nickel-base alloys, zirconium alloys, and other structural alloys in nuclear energy applications. This authoritative reference is a critical acquisition for institutions and individuals seeking state-of-the-art knowledge aided by the editors' unique personal insight from decades of frontline research, engineering and management. - Focuses on in-service irradiation, thermal, mechanical, and chemical performance capabilities. - Covers the use of steels and other structural alloys in current fission technology, leading edge Generation-IV fission reactors, and future fusion power reactors. - Provides a critical and comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art experimental knowledge base of reactor materials, for applications ranging from engineering safety and lifetime assessments to supporting the development of advanced computational models.

Due to their continuing role in electricity generation, it is important that coal power plants operate as efficiently and cleanly as possible. Coal Power Plant Materials and Life Assessment reviews the materials used in coal plants, and how they can be assessed and managed to optimize plant operation. Part I considers the structural alloys used in coal plants. Part II then reviews performance modelling and life assessment techniques, explains the inspection and life-management approaches that can be adopted to optimize long term plant operation, and considers the technical and economic issues involved in meeting variable energy demands. - Summarizes key research on coal-fired power plant materials, their behavior under operational loads, and approaches to life assessment and defect management - Details the range of structural alloys used in coal power plants, and the life assessment techniques applicable to defect-free components under operational loads - Reviews the life assessment techniques applicable to components containing defects and the approaches that can be adopted to optimize plant operation and new plant and component design

FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS OF STRUCTURAL ALLOY DESIGN is the proceedings of the tenth Battelle Colloquium in the Materials Sciences, held in Seattle, Washington, and Harrison Hot Springs, B.C., September 15-19, 1975. The theme of the conference was the emerging science of alloy design. Although the relationships of properties of alloys to their composition and structure have long been a dominant theme in physical metallurgy, it is only recently that metallurgists have turned their attention from the analytical, post hoc study of the structure-property relationship to the synthesis approach of alloy design. As usual in the Battelle colloquia, the first day started with a group of introductory lectures presented by leaders in the field, each emphasizing his personal approach to the problem. This provided a historical perspective for the colloquium. These papers, together with the banquet address of Professor J. R. Low, Jr., who was honored at the colloquium, comprise the introductory section of these proceedings. Alloy design is generally specific to a given application. Thus, the needs in alloy design in a number of important applications, gas turbines, electrical-power-generation equipment, airframes, pressure vessels, and nuclear applications were presented in a group of papers. An agenda discus sion on "Needs in Alloy Design" followed. These papers give the external constraints on alloy design applications, and criteria for mechanical, physical, and chemical properties for which the alloys must be designed.

This book addresses structural material corrosion in coolant circuits, simulation of erosion corrosion of carbon and low-alloy steels, and simulation of stress corrosion. It also discusses corrosion of copper alloys, zirconium corrosion, optimization of water chemistry at operating nuclear power plants, coolant tendency to deposit hardness salts on heat-transfer surfaces, and inspection of metallic components. In addition, there are two appendixes, the first showing the chemical composition of steels, the second discussing solubility of iron, cobalt, zinc and copper corrosion products under conditions simulating power unit water chemistry.

Maintaining the integrity of nuclear power plants is critical in the prevention or control of severe accidents. This monograph deals with both basic groups of structural materials used in the design of light-water nuclear reactors, making the primary safety barriers of NPPs. Emphasis is placed on materials used in VVER-type nuclear reactors: Cr-Mo-V and Cr-Ni-Mo-V steel for RPV and Zr-Nb alloys for fuel element cladding. The book is divided into 7 main chapters, with the exception of the opening one and the chapter providing a phenomenological background for the subject of radiation damage. Chapters 3-6 are devoted to RPV steels and chapters 7-9 to zirconium alloys, analysing their radiation damage structure, changes of mechanical properties due to neutron irradiation as well as factors influencing the degree of their performance degradation. The recovery of damaged materials is also discussed. Considerable attention is paid to a comparison of VVER-type and western-type light-water materials. This monograph will be of great value to postgraduate students in nuclear engineering and materials science, and for designers and research workers in nuclear energy.

The continued use of coal as a means of generating electricity and an increasing demand for cleaner, more efficient energy production has led to advances in power plant technology. Ultra-supercritical coal power plants reviews the engineering, operation, materials and performance of ultra-supercritical coal power plants.Following a chapter introducing advanced and ultra-supercritical coal power plants, part one goes on to explore the operating environments, materials and engineering of ultra-supercritical coal power plants. Chapters discuss the impacts of steam conditions on plant materials and operation, fuel considerations and burner design, and materials and design for boilers working under supercritical steam conditions. Chapters in part two focus on improving ultra-supercritical coal power plant performance and operability. Ash fouling, deposition and slagging in ultra-supercritical coal power plants are highlighted along with pollution control measures and the estimation, management and extension of the life of ultra-supercritical power plants. Further chapters provide an economic and engineering analysis of a 700°C advanced ultra-supercritical pulverised coal power plant and discuss CO2 capture-ready ultra-supercritical coal power plants.Ultra-supercritical coal power plants is a comprehensive technical reference for power plant operators and engineers, high-temperature materials scientists, professionals in the power industry who require an understanding of ultra-supercritical coal power plants and researchers and academics interested in the field. - Provides a comprehensive reference on the developments, materials, design and operation of ultra-supercritical power plant - Considers the degradation issues affecting this type of plant, as well as emissions control and CO2 capture technology; improved plant controls critical to improved operation and environmental performance - Contains operational assessments for plant safety, plant life management, and plant economics

Failures or forced shutdowns in power plants are often due to boilers, and particularly failure of boiler tubes. This comprehensive resource deals with the subject of failure investigation of boiler tubes from basic fundamentals to practical applications. Coverage includes properties and selection of materials for boiler tubes from a metallurgical view point, damage mechanisms responsible for failure of boiler tubes, and characterization techniques employed for investigating failures of boiler tubes in thermal power plants and utility boilers of industrial/commercial/institutional (ICI) boilers. A large number of case studies based on the actual failures from the field are described, along with photographs and microstructures to allow for easy comprehension of the theory behind the failures. This book is geared to practicing engineers and for studies in the major area of power plant engineering. For non-metallurgists, a chapter has been devoted to the basics of material science, metallurgy of steels, heat treatment, and structure-property correlation. A chapter on materials for boiler tubes covers composition and application of different grades of steels and high temperature alloys currently in use as boiler tubes and future materials to be used in supercritical, ultra-supercritical and advanced ultra-supercritical thermal power plants. A comprehensive discussion on different mechanisms of boiler tube failure is the heart of the book. Additional chapters detailing the role of advanced material characterization techniques in failure investigation and the role of water chemistry in tube failures are key contributions to the book. The authors have long-standing experience in the field of metallurgy and materials technology, failure investigation, remaining life assessment (RLA) and fitness for service (FFS) for industrial plant and equipment, including power plants. They have conducted a large number of failure investigations of boiler tubes and have recommended effective remedial measures in problem solving for power and utility boilers.