VVER vessel steel corrosion at interaction with molten corium in oxidizing atmosphere

The long-term in-vessel corium retention (IVR) in the lower head bears a risk of the vessel wall deterioration caused by steel corrosion. The ISTC METCOR Project has studied physicochemical impact of prototypic coria having different compositions in air and steam and has generated valuable experimental data on vessel steel corrosion. It is found that the corrosion rate is sensitive to corium composition, but the composition of oxidizing above-melt atmosphere (air, steam) has practically no influence on it. A model of the corrosion process that integrates the experimental data, is proposed and used for development of correlations.