Corrosion of copper-coated used nuclear fuel containers due to oxygen trapped in a Canadian deep geological repository. (19th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hall, David S.; Standish, Thalia E.; Behazin, Mehran; Keech, Peter G.
• Is Part Of: Corrosion engineering, science, and technology. Volume 53:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 309
• Page End: 315
• Publication Date: 2018-05-19
• Subjects: Corrosion allowance -- oxic corrosion -- copper -- used nuclear fuel -- deep geological repository; Corrosion and anti-corrosives -- Periodicals; 620.11223
• DOI: 10.1080/1478422X.2018.1463009
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-422X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is evaluating the safety and feasibility of the permanent disposal of used nuclear fuel in a deep geological repository. Their current design concept utilises copper-coated steel used fuel containers to isolate the waste from the environment. Immediately following repository closure, a finite quantity of O2 will be trapped inside the repository and could cause some amount of oxic corrosion to the outer copper layer of the containers. On a per container basis, 13 mol of O2 will be trapped in the repository rooms at the time of closure, based on reference design dimensions. This corresponds to a maximum depth of copper corrosion of 81 μm, assuming a uniform distribution. This work also considers the sensitivity of this oxic corrosion allowance to various hypothetical design changes to the repository that may occur before or during construction.