Abstract: “In order to increase the effectiveness of fossil-fueled power plants the parameters of the cooling medium are increased nowadays up to 600 °C and 25 MPa (supercritical water). Currently even higher parameters (ultra supercritical water) are planned to be employed in the future. In this paper the unique supercritical water research infrastructure in Research Centre Řež is presented. The newly designed ultra supercritical water research loop is described in detail. The corrosion resistance of ferritic-martensitic steels P91, P92 and VM12-SHC was investigated under the conditions of supercritical water at 600 °C and 25 MPa. The high-temperature structural stability of these steels was evaluated and the oxides formed during the supercritical water exposure were analyzed and described. As expected the higher chromium containing steel VM12-SHC showed the best corrosion behavior among the examined steels.”

Keywords: supercritical water, martensitic steels, ultra supercritical water, corrosion behaviour, structural stability