| 摘要 |
Gold-coated zirconium and zirconium alloy reactor components and specifically cladding tubes (14) are provided. The gold coating (27) prevents hydrogen and hydrogen-bearing chemical species from finding their way into the zirconium or zirconium alloy. Gold coatings on the interior of cladding tubes (21) have an average thickness sufficiently great to prevent hydrogen or hydrogen-bearing species from penetrating through the coating and sufficiently thin to pass a significant neutron flux from fissionable fuel. Such cladding tubes include an outer circumferential zirconium alloy substrate (21), a zirconium barrier layer (22) metallurgly bonded to the inter surface, and the gold coating (27) on the inner surface of the zirconium barrier layer. <MATH> |
