Microbially-influenced changes in repositories of nuclear waste: biofouling and biocorrosion of metal canisters

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

With the current oil and gas energy crisis, nuclear energy has resurfaced as one of the most efficient and cleanest alternatives. However, one of the major concerns of this technology is nuclear waste. Deep geological repositories are multi-barrier systems to deposit radioactive waste, by encapsulating the waste in metal containers (e.g. copper) surrounded by compacted bentonite and emplacing them at 500-1000 m depth. This project will study the impact of microbial processes on the corrosion of these metal containers. The project aims to study the effects of biofilms and biocorrosion on the metal surfaces using a combination of potentiometric, spectroscopic (ATR-FTIR, micro-FTIR, ToF-SIMS, depth-profile XPS), microscopic (TEM, SEM-EDX) and microbiological techniques.