Corrosion behavior of high-level waste container materials Ti and Ti-Pd alloy under long-term gamma irradiation in Beishan groundwater

Titanium and titanium-palladium alloys are important potential materials for nuclear waste container,which will endure both intenseγ-irradiation and groundwater erosion.Therefore,it is very important to investigate the corrosion behavior of the container materials.In this research,the cumulative dose effect of TA8-1 type titanium-palladium alloy(TA8-1)and TA2-type pure titanium(TA2)underγ-irradiation was studied based on the geological disposal of nuclear wastes.The irradiation experiments were performed at room temperature using^(60)Co gamma sources with a 5.0-kGy·h^(-1)intensity for 40,80 or 160 days,respectively.The pH value and conductivity of Beishan groundwater were investigated.The results showed that the pH value changed from alkaline(8.22)to acidic(2.46 for TA8-1 and 2.44 for TA2),while the un-irradiated solution remained alkaline(8.17 for TA8-1 and 8.20 for TA2)after 160 days.With the increase of irradiation dose,the conductivity increases rapidly and then tends to become stable,which indicates that the titanium dioxide corrosion layer formed on the surface of the sample surface effectively prevents further corrosion.Meanwhile,XRD and SEM-EDS analysis results show that the main components of corrosion products are TiO_(2) and TiO.The titanium on the surface of the sample is oxidized,resulting in slight uneven local corrosion.The results show that TA8-1 and TA2 are suitable to be used as candidate materials for high-level waste(HLW)disposal containers due to their excellent performance under long-term and high-dose irradiation corrosion.

Understanding the role of alloyed Ni and Cu on improving corrosion resistance of low alloy steel in the simulated Beishan groundwater

The corrosion behavior of NiCu low alloy steel and Q235 low carbon steel as the candidate materials for geological disposal containers of high-level radioactive waste in the simulated Beishan groundwater was comparatively studied by weight loss test,electrochemical measurements,scanning electron microscope(SEM),electron probe microanalysis(EPMA),X-ray diffraction(XRD),Raman spectrum and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS).The electrochemical results showed that the corrosion potential of NiCu steel and Q235 steel gradually increased with the immersion time.Simultaneously,the cathodic process transited from hydrogen evolution reaction(HER) control to the rust reduction control,while the anodic process was always dominated by the active dissolution of iron.By comparison,both the cathodic resistance and the anodic dissolution resistance of NiCu steel corrosion were apparently higher than that of Q235 steel.The results of rust layer characterization indicated that Ni and Cu elements could be enriched in the inner rust layer of NiCu steel and the rust layer was more compact.As the main corrosion products,the content of α-FeOOH in the rust layer of NiCu steel was obviously increased more than that of Q235 steel.Fe_(6)(OH)_(12)SO_(4)stably existed in the corrosion products of NiCu steel because Ni(Ⅱ) or Cu(Ⅱ)could substitute Fe(Ⅱ) of Fe_(6)(OH)_(12)SO_(4)and increased its oxidation resistance,Moreover,Ni and Cu could also make Fe3O4ionic selective by doping.After the long-term immersion,the corrosion mass loss of NiCu steel was significantly lower than Q235 steel,which further confirmed the benefits of Ni and Cu alloying on improving the steel corrosion resistance.