Coupled mixed-potential and thermal hydraulics model for long-term uniform corrosion of copper canisters for storing spent nuclear fuel

Abstract

Canister performance is a major issue for constructing reliable deep geological repositories for storing spent nuclear fuels, and corrosion resistance is main the factor determining canister durability. We developed a 2-D multiphysics model, which can predict both the corrosion rate and potential, for simulating copper canister corrosion in deep geological repositories. We found that canisters corroded through the long-cell action in a deep geological repository, the corrosion was quite limited, and the overall canister durability was around 1.7 million years. Our results demonstrated that copper exhibits sufficient corrosion resistance and that long-cell action-based corrosion cannot severely damage copper canisters.