Investigation of corrosion processes affecting copper barriers on used nuclear fuel containers for deep geological repositories

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is the federal regulator responsible regulating the management of used nuclear fuel (UNF). In the coming years, the CNSC expects the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to submit a proposal for a licence to build and operate a deep geological repository (DGR) for the long-term storage of UNF. The goal of this project, in partnership with the CNSC, is to provide critical scientific information to allow the CNSC to effectively evaluate the NWMO proposal. In particular, this research will investigate the corrosion of copper in the DGR environment and evaluate whether a 3 mm copper coating on UNF storage containers can effectively mitigate corrosion processes and maintain the integrity of the UNF storage container over a lifespan of one million years. This project will include four main tasks; 1) a thorough literature review of copper corrosion studies to identify knowledge gaps and uncertainties, 2) conduct detailed column experiments to further refine the understanding and rates of copper corrosion processes, 3) develop numerical models to simulate copper corrosion processes in the DGR environment and calibrate models to available data, and 4) use numerical models to provide forecasts of long-term copper corrosion. This research will aide in the CNSC's decision making process and provide critical information on copper corrosion for the international nuclear waste management community.