Stress corrosion cracking of candidate waste container materials

Six alloys have been selected as candidate container materials for the storage of high-level nuclear waste at the proposed Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. These materials are Type 304L stainless steel (SS), Type 316L SS, Incology 825, P-deoxidized Cu, Cu-30%Ni, and Cu-7% Al. The present program has been initiated to determine whether any of these materials can survive for 300 years in the site environment without developing through-wall stress corrosion cracks, and to assess the relative resistance of these materials to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). A series of slow-strain-rate tests (SSRTs) in simulated Well J-13 water which is representative of the groundwater present at the Yucca Mountain site has been completed, and crack-growth-rate (CGR) tests are also being conducted under the same environmental conditions. 13 refs., 60 figs., 22 tabs