Stress corrosion cracking of candidate waste container materials; Final report

Abstract

Six alloys have been selected as candidate container materials for the storage of high-level nuclear waste at the proposed Yucca mountain site in Nevada. These materials are Type 304L stainless steel (SS). Type 316L SS, Incoloy 825, phosphorus-deoxidized Cu, Cu-30%Ni, and Cu-7%Al. The present program has been initiated to determine whether any of these materials can survive for 300 years in the site environment without developing through-wall stress corrosion cracks. and to assess the relative resistance of these materials to stress corrosion cracking (SCC)- A series of slow-strain-rate tests (SSRTs) and fracture-mechanics crack-growth-rate (CGR) tests was performed at 93{degree}C and 1 atm of pressure in simulated J-13 well water. This water is representative, prior to the widespread availability of unsaturated-zone water, of the groundwater present at the Yucca Mountain site. Slow-strain-rate tests were conducted on 6.35-mm-diameter cylindrical specimens at strain rates of 10-{sup {minus}7} and 10{sup {minus}8} s{sup {minus}1} under crevice and noncrevice conditions. All tests were interrupted after nominal elongation strain of 1--4%. Scanning electron microscopy revealed some crack initiation in virtually all the materials, as well as weldments made from these materials. A stress- or strain-ratio cracking index ranks these materials, in order of increasing resistance to SCC, as follows: Type 304 SS < Type 316L SS < Incoloy 825 < Cu-30%Ni < Cu and Cu-7%Al. Fracture-mechanics CGR tests were conducted on 25.4-mm-thick compact tension specimens of Types 304L and 316L stainless steel (SS) and Incoloy 825. Crack-growth rates were measured under various load conditions: load ratios M of 0.5--1.0, frequencies of 10{sup {minus}3}-1 Hz, rise nines of 1--1000s, and peak stress intensities of 25--40 MPa{center_dot}m {sup l/2}.