96-10: Cathodic Protection of the Palo Verde Cooling Towers

This paper discusses the concrete damage due to the corrosion of the reinforcing steel in the nine cooling towers at this nuclear power plant. Although some conventional concrete repairs were tried, they were unsuccessful. The cause of the concrete damage was the corrosion of the reinforcing steel. After a series of tests and trial cathodic protection systems, a full-scale cathodic protection installation program was started. The paper documents the process and how the cathodic protection system is saving the owner almost ninety million dollars.