A preliminary assessment reveals the possibilities andchallenges of using zirconium alloys in the SCWR. Inparticular, in comparison with other alloys beingconsidered for the SCWR, the Zr alloys showed highercorrosion rates than austenitic alloys, and somewhat lowercorrosion rates than ferritic-martensitic alloys, at least upto the times that these steels have been tested insupercritical water (about 30 days). Issues related tomechanical properties and hydrogen uptake will still haveto be resolved.
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