Austenitic stainless steels such as type 304 and 316 are used widely as core internals components in light water reactors. Under certain operation conditions the austenitic materials may be susceptible to environmentally assisted cracking and irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking. Irradiation may produce hardening and alter the local chemistry of the alloys which may increase their susceptibility to environmental cracking. Ferritic stainless steels are less susceptible to irradiation damage such as void swelling than their austenitic cousins. Ferritic stainless steels also offer desirable higher thermal conductivity and lower expansion coefficients. Little is known however about the stress corrosion cracking behavior of ferritic steels in high temperature water. Crack propagation rate studies were conducted using four types of ferritic steels in high purity water at 288°C containing dissolved oxygen or dissolved hydrogen. Results show that ferritic steels (5% Cr 9% Cr 12%Cr and 17% Cr) are notably more resistant to environmental cracking than the austenitic materials.