KOH is being considered as a replacement for LiOH in PWR primary water because of the cost and uncertain future availability of Li. In this study, crack growth and crack initiation testing were conducted on aged Alloy A-286, an austenitic precipitation-hardenable stainless steel, in beginning-of-cycle (BOC) PWR water chemistries (LiOH vs. KOH). Crack growth rate testing of a 1TCT specimen at 340°C showed no change in SCC growth rate as the water chemistry was changed from B/Li to B/K and back,
several times. Evaluations of SCC initiation were performed at 340°C in two systems (one for the B/Li and one for the B/K water chemistry), using 20 specimens in each system, involving 10 higher stress and 10 lower stress specimens, extending over about 4780 hours of testing at temperature and at load. The specimens were peened, guided by prior work on crack initiation of A-286. Four failures were observed in the B/Li chemistry and two failures in the B/K chemistry. Detailed Weibull analyses show no statistical difference in the times to initiation as assessed by the Mean ± 1 Standard Deviation.