Corrosion nuclear waste storage

In most applications, this would be considered outstanding corrosion resistance, but for a nuclear waste storage vessel needing 100,000 years of service, the corrosion allowance would need to be at least 10 cm. 

Effect of Location Site on Corrosion of Nuclear Waste Storage Containers The plan consists of a permanent nuclear depository to build at a relatively dry site with a depth of several hundred meters below the earth s surface. It is envisaged that the presence of water will eventually corrode the storage containers. In the United States, the Yucca Mountain site is reported to be a good location... 

Long-term corrosion rates—for example, metals in concrete or in clays used in nuclear waste storage. Measurements could be carried out in sealed glass vessels to control the environment, and these samples measured at monthly or even yearly intervals. Current methods for measuring the evolution of corrosion for nuclear waste samples of this type include the indirect measurement of hydrogen evolution, which is not straightforward. 

In addition, the protective lead shipping casks for containment of the spent fuel weigh many more additional tons. Corrosion is not an issue in the transportation of nuclear waste because of the stringent package requirements and the short duration of the transport however, corrosion is an important problem in the design of casks used for permanent storage. Table 3.22 shows the volume of low-level waste received at US disposal facilities in the 10-year period between 1985 and 1994 (52). 

In addition to the unavoidable material aging because of exposure to radiation from the radioactive material and hence corrosion is expected to be a concern in the long-term storage of nuclear waste. It has been further suggested that heat generation from radiation can drive the corrosion rate higher. Many cask designs have been proposed, and each with different materials of construction. The most common proposed materials are carbon steel, stainless steel, and concrete construction. 

LOUTHAN, M.R., Jr., The potential for microbiologically influenced corrosion in the Savannah River spent fuel storage pools , Proc. NATO Workshop on Microbial Degradation Processes in Radioactive Waste Repositories and in Nuclear Fuel Storage Areas, Budapest, 1996, Kluwer, Dordrecht (1997). 

The total system relies on defense in depth through vitrification and immobilization of the nuclear waste within glass, the storage of borated stainless steel baskets, and enclosure in a modern corrosion-resistant alloy. An extraordinary effort has been under way around the world to verify acceptable performance over what had heretofore been unthinkable lifetimes. This has brought about some revolutionary new lines of thinking in the corrosion field—on, for instance, the theory, experiment, and modeling of extremely low corrosion rates the revisitation of such issues as long-term passivity of alloys in complex environments and... 

King, F. (2013) Container materials for the storage and disposal of nuclear waste. Corrosion, 69,986-1011. 

There are large numbers of reported case histories of MIC on stainless steel in water and aqueous waste systems. They are related to different industrial applications such as freshwater storage and circulation systems in nuclear power plants [103, 113,116,142] and cooling water systems in chemical process industries [117,118]. There are basically three cases (a) crevice corrosion under unexpected deposits, (b) sensitivity of pitting and crevice corrosion to trace of H2S, and (c) crevice corrosion in natural seawater. Most of these reports are not well documented concerning the microorganisms involved in the process. However, some general features are... 

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