Corrosion of Materials in a Clay Environment

Abstract

Disposal of radioactive waste in stable geological formations is presently considered as one of the safest methods for the isolation of radionuclides contained in the waste from the ecosphere. The burial of radioactive waste in sheathed canisters in holes in geologic formations provides different barriers against dispersal of radionuclides, namely, the stability of the waste, the canister, possible chemical and sorptive barriers present in the storage hole or in the geological formation itself. The canister material has to be selected with the intention of good durability and service life under the conditions prevailing in the final repository. In Belgium, the use of a geological clay formation is being studied for the burial of radioactive waste (1). The metallic materials fabricated under well defined rules should be compatible in the different steps in the lifetime of the canister, namely, during reprocessing, interim storage and during final storage. A further aim of this study is to characterize the environment present in holes of a geological clay formation as a function of canister temperature, temperature of the clay formation, and time, both in normal service life and under accidental conditions.KeywordsCarbon SteelRadioactive WasteFerritic Stainless SteelCorrosion LayerLocalize AttackThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.