Deposition Characteristics of Corrosive Salts in Electric Steam Generating Systems Using Ion Beam Analysis

A method is described for the in situ detection of trace amounts of the isotopes contained in corrosive salts which have been deposited on the surface of metal alloys from dry steam at temperatures and pressures prevalent in nuclear steam turbine systems. The technique involves the use of ion beam induced resonant nuclear reactions with the trace elements. Detection of the resulting reaction ¿ rays serves as a means of identifying and quantifying the trace element abundance deposited under given temperature and pressure conditions. Preliminary results, obtained with this technique for NaCl on metal alloys relevant to the power industry, suggest a monolayer detection sensitivity is possible.