Corrosion Testing Of Carbon Steel In Oxalic Acid Chemical Cleaning Solutions

Radioactive liquid waste has been stored in underground carbon steel tanks for nearly 60 years at the Savannah River Site. The site is currently in the process of removing the waste from these tanks in order to place it into vitrified, stable state for longer term storage. The last stage in the removal sequence is a chemical cleaning step that breaks up and dissolves metal oxide solids that cannot be easily pumped out of the tank. Oxalic acid has been selected for this purpose because it is an effective chelating agent for the solids and is not as corrosive as other acids. Electrochemical and immersion studies were conducted to investigate the corrosion behavior of carbon steel in simulated chemical cleaning environments. The effects of temperature, agitation, and the presence of sludge solids in the oxalic acid on the corrosion rate and the likelihood of hydrogen evolution were determined. The testing showed that the corrosion rates decreased significantly in the presence of the sludge solids. Corrosion rates increased with agitation, however, the changes were less noticeable.