The scope of Sandvik’s specialist manufacturing capability for steel tubes for the power generation industry has resulted in a major order for British Nuclear Fuels’ reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, UK. The order, worth in excess of GBP 400,000 is for high purity, 18/10/L, Nitric Acid grade stainless steel tubes in a range of sizes from 1/2″ to 6″ nominal bore for a heat exchanger type application. Also in Sandvik’s nuclear tube programme are feedwater heater tubes used in the power generation process in both nuclear power and fossil fuel fired stations. Whilst the materials commonly used for this application are copper alloys, carbon steel and type 304 stainless steel, Sandvik’s duplex stainless steel Sandvik SAF 2304, is available as an alternative, offering strength and corrosion resisting advantages. In an application in a fossil fuel fired power station in the USA, Sandvik SAF 2304 tubes have been used successfully as a replacement for carbon material and, because of its higher strength, has allowed a tube wall thickness reduction of approx. 40%. In a nuclear power application in Sweden, Sandvik SAF 2304 has again been used successfully to replace carbon tubes, which failed frequently due to steam erosion.
