Exploring the impact of groundwater constituents and irradiation conditions on radiation-induced corrosion of copper

Abstract

In this work, the impact of groundwater constituents and irradiation conditions on radiation induced corrosion of copper have been studied using numerical simulations based on the recently published mechanism. The simulations show that the amount of corrosion at a given total absorbed radiation dose will increase with decreasing dose rate. Furthermore, hydroxyl radical scavengers in general have a very marginal effect on the rate of corrosion while scavengers of the hydrated electron almost double the rate of corrosion. Sulfide present under relevant conditions has a significant effect on the corrosion rate and reduces the rate by 80% already at the lowest expected concentration and flux. Fe2+ present under relevant conditions does not influence the rate of corrosion significantly. Also initially dissolved oxygen has a very marginal effect on the process. Dissolved organic material scavenge hydroxyl radicals upon formation of C-centered radicals which in turn react with molecular oxygen. In systems where peroxyl radical recombination is not dominating, i.e., where there are solutes reactive towards peroxyl radicals, the presence of dissolved organic material can reduce the rate of corrosion by almost 99%. The pH and the presence of Cl−, HCO3− and SO42− have relatively small effects. In general, radiation induced corrosion is 20–40% slower at pH = 9 as compared to pH = 7.4 and the presence of HCO3− increases the rate of corrosion somewhat at pH = 9 as compared to pure water at the same pH.