Corrosion surveillance program for tank, fuel cladding and supporting structure of 30 MW Indonesian RSG GAS research reactor

The objective of this research is to understand the condition of the structural material of the 30 MW RSG-GAS research reactor as input for the aging management program. Furthermore, this should enable a prediction of the remaining life of the components. In the current experiment, corrosion surveillance was carried out at Interim Storage for Spent Fuel (ISSF), that has similar water quality as in reactor pool by using a corrosion probe which is made of aluminum alloy and stainless steel. The probe set is designed to understand the effect of water quality in the ISSF pond. The corrosion processes observed were pitting, crevice and galvanic corrosion. Two sets of corrosion probes were immersed into the ISSF pool in 2007, hanging by steel wire, 1-meter height from the bottom surface. One probe set consists of horizontal and vertical positions. The soaking time was 7 years. The observations made were water chemical content, corrosion rate and visual analysis, macro and micro. For macro visual observations an optical microscope was used, for micro-observations SEM-EDX. From the results of macro- observations, information on the presence of galvanic corrosion, crevice and pitting was obtained. SEM-EDX provides information on the influence of chloride ions on corrosion products. This experience will be very useful in dealing with the aging process of Indonesia's nuclear power plants in the future.