Corrosion of low-carbon cast steel in concentrated synthetic groundwater at 80 to 150°C

Radiation Induced Corrosion of Nuclear Fuel and Materials

“…in radiation field generally concluded, that under aerated or deaerated conditions in temperature range 30-250°C, the corrosion is affected by ionizing radiation at dose rates 0.01 kGy. h -1 (Smailos, 2002), 0.011-0.3 kGy.h -1 (Smart et al, 2008), 3 kGy.h -1 (Nelson et al, 1984), 13 kGy.h -1 (Ahn and Soo, 1995), which is consistent with observations made by Cuba et al (2011) at dose rate 0.22 kGy h -1 and temperatures 50 and 70°C. Similarly, the slow rates of corrosion processes in irradiated deaerated water at room temperature were also observed by others (Burns et al, 1983;Lapuerta et al, 2005).…”

“…Irradiation corrosion studies of titanium in 250°C synthetic groundwater show very low corrosion rates and no tendency to environmentally enhanced cracking. Ahn & Soo (1995) also studied the long term corrosion processes at elevated temperatures. Corrosion properties of carbon steel were evaluated in concentrated synthetic groundwater at 80-150°C, with regards to the use of the steel as a container material in the Yucca Mountain repository project.…”

Spent fuel canister for geological repository: Inner material requirements and candidates evaluation

“…On the one hand, the presence of significant amounts of hydrogen is expected to maintain reducing conditions on the near field, thus preventing or slowing fuel corrosion [23][24][25][26]. On the other hand, high hydrogen concentrations are likely to cause steel embrittlement [27][28][29] and furthermore, if enough hydrogen pressure builds up, it could affect the performance of the bentonite barrier [29][30][31][32], as bubbles may leak through the clay, possibly allowing some amount of radionuclides to leak with them or opening preferential migration paths. Therefore, the possibility of inducing or preventing hydrogen generation should not be ignored, but it can be taken into account only when more convincing evidence about this topic is available.…”

Near-field/altered-zone models report

“…The most abundant corrosion products resulting from degradation of the waste container are expected to be iron oxides derived from a relatively thick overpack of low-carbon steel surrounding a corrosion-resistant inner barrier (Ahn and Soo, 1995;Van Luik et al, 1992). Based on proposed designs, approximately 1.6 to 2.0 × 10 4 kg of steel will surround each WP.…”