Radiation Induced Corrosion of Copper in Humid Air and Argon Atmospheres

Abstract

Corrosion of copper is a key-issue in the safety assessment of deep geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel utilizing copper coated canisters to isolate the spent nuclear fuel from the surrounding environment. Of particular interest is the radiation induced corrosion attributed to the inherent radioactivity of the spent nuclear fuel. In this work we have studied the radiation induced corrosion of copper in humid air and argon atmospheres. Polished copper cubes were gamma irradiated in the environments mentioned above at ambient temperature. Reference samples, not irradiated but otherwise treated under the exact same conditions as the irradiated samples, were used throughout the study. The oxide layers formed during radiation exposure were studied using cathodic reduction, infrared reflection/absorption spectroscopy, and the surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscopy. When possible, the concentration of copper in solution was measured using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. The experimental results clearly show that radiation induced corrosion of copper in humid air as well as in humid argon is significantly more extensive than the corresponding process in anaerobic water. This is well in line with the recently proposed mechanism for radiation-induced corrosion of copper in anaerobic water. The very similar behavior of copper irradiated in humid air and in humid argon implies that the radiolytically formed HNO3 in the case of humid air has negligible impact on the radiation-induced corrosion compared to the radiolytically formed hydroxyl radical.