Review of passive corrosion studies of carbon steel in concrete in the context of disposal of HLW and spent fuel in Belgium

Bruno Kursten, Frank Druyts, N.R. Smart, D.D. Macdonald, R. Gens, Lian Wang, Eef Weetjens, Joan Govaerts

Research outputpeer-review

Abstract

The Supercontainer (SC) design is the preferred option for the final disposal of high level nuclear waste and spent fuel in Belgium. The SC consists of a carbon steel overpack surrounded by a very thick concrete buffer, contained within a stainless steel envelope. In this highly alkaline environment of the annulus and under normal conditions (without the ingress of aggressive species), the carbon steel overpack will be protected by a passive oxide film, which is believed to result in very low and almost negligible uniform corrosion rates. This paper discusses the modeling efforts simulating the evolution of various parameters that can potentially influence the corrosion processes (temperature, pH, saturation degree and concentration of aggressive species). The outcome of the Belgian experimental program to study the passive uniform corrosion of carbon steel in concrete is also addressed. Longterm uniform corrosion rates are determined using different independent techniques (hydrogen gas measurements by means of manometric gas cells or pressure transducers, long-term passive current density measurements).
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the ASME 2013 15th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management - ICEM 2013 (on CD)
Place of PublicationUnited States
Pages1-8
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2013
Event2013 - ICEM: 15th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management - ASME, Belgoprocess, SCK•CEN, Brussels
Duration: 8 Sep 201312 Sep 2013

Conference

Conference2013 - ICEM
Abbreviated titleICEM'13
Country/TerritoryBelgium
CityBrussels
Period2013-09-082013-09-12

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