Method for reducing the oxygen content in steam generator wall tubes

A method for reducing stress corrosion cracking of tubes of erected and installed tube wall regions or tube wall segments of a steam generator tube wall of a boiler of a power station fired by carbon containing fuel by reducing the oxygen content in the flow volume of the tubes of the erected and installed tube wall regions or tube wall segments before filling the boiler with water for a first time when the boiler is started for a first time, wherein the tubes of the tube wall regions or tube wall segments are composed of one of the steels T22, T23, or T24, the method comprising:

• introducing an inert gas or an inert gas mixture into the tubes of the tube wall regions or segments of the steam generator tube wall of the boiler of the power station fired by carbon containing fuel, through which boiler water or steam formed from this boiler water flows when the power station is in operation, before filling the tubes of the tube wall regions or segments of the steam generator tube wall of the boiler with boiler water for the first time when the boiler is started for the first time, such that the inert gas or the inert gas mixture displaces atmospheric oxygen which is present as a gaseous oxygen in the respective flow volume of the tubes of the tube wall regions or segments of the steam generator tube wall of the boiler at a time point before the tubes are filled with boiler water for the first time when the boiler is started for the first time.