Corrosive gas generation potential from chloride salt radiolysis in plutonium environments

The specific goal of this project was to evaluate the magnitude and practical significance of radiation effects involving mixtures of chloride salts and plutonium dioxide (PuO2) sealed in stainless steel containers and stored for up to 50 yr, after stabilization at 950 C and packaging according to US Department of Energy (DOE) standards. The potential for generating chemically aggressive molecular chlorine (and hydrogen chloride by interaction with adsorbed water or hydrogen gas) by radiolysis of chloride ions was studied. To evaluate the risks, an annotated bibliography on chloride salt radiolysis was created with emphasis on effects of plutonium alpha radiation. The authors present data from the material identification and surveillance (MIS) project obtained from examination and analysis of representative PuO2 items from various DOE sites, including the headspace gas analysis data of sealed mixtures of PuO2 and chloride salts following long-term storage