A calculational approach has been used to evaluate potential sources, transport, and distribution of hydrogen in light-water reactor (LWR) irradiated stainless steel. The calculations indicate that corrosion- induced hydrogen can achieve significant and uniform concentration profiles in structures of reasonable thickness, i.e., 3 mm. The LWR temperature of about 288°C is sufficient to promote diffusion without the aid of radiation-enhanced diffusion. If the in-core hydrogen fugacity is significantly higher than ex-core hydrogen fugacity, it is predicted that hydrogen outgassing will occur during times associated with exreactor slow strain rate testing. Differences between hydrogen effects on in-core irradiationassisted stress corrosion cracking (lASCC) and ex-core IASCC are expected. Hydrogen traps in stainless steel are not important at LWR temperatures. Lastly, calculated transmutation hydrogen inventories are small even when a surface oxide barrier exists blocking the release of hydrogen.
Keywords: Hydrogen, kinetics, calculation, irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking, temperature.