Corrosion behaviour of selected high-level waste packaging materials under gamma irradiation and in-situ disposal conditions in rock salt

Corrosion studies performed until now on a number of materials have shown that unalloyed steels, Hastelloy C4 and Ti 99.8-Pd are the most promising materials for a long-term resistant packaging to be used in high-level waste (HLW) canister disposal in rock salt formations. To characterize their corrosion behaviour in more detail, additional studies have been performed. The influence has been examined which is exerted by the gamma dose rate (1 Gy/h to 100 Gy/h) on the corrosion of three preselected steels and Hastelloy C4 at 900C in a salt brine (Q-brine) rich in MgCl2, i.e., conditions relevant to accident scenarios in a repository. In addition, in-situ corrosion experiments have been carried out in the Asse salt mine at elevated temperatures (1200C to 2100C) in the absence and in the presence of a gamma radiation field of 3 x 102 Gy/h, within the framework of the German/US Brine Migration Test. Under the test conditions the gamma radiation did not exert a significant influence on the corrosion of the steels investigated, whereas Hastelloy C4, exposed to dose rates of 10 Gy/h and 100 Gy/h, underwent pitting and crevice corrosion (20 μm/a at the maximum).The low amounts of migrated salt brine (140 ml after 900 days) in the in-situ- experiment did not produce noticeable corrosion of the materials. (orig./RB)