Corrosion processes of austenitic stainless steels and copper-based materials in gamma-irradiated aqueous environments

The US Department of Energy is evaluating a site located at Yucca Mountain in Nye County, Nevada, as a potential high-level nuclear waste repository. The rock at the proposed repository horizon (above the water table) is densely welded, devitrified tuff, and the fluid environment in the repository is expected to be primarily air-steam. A more severe environment would be present in the unlikely case of intrusion of vadose groundwater into the repository site. For this repository location, austenitic stainless steels and copper-based materials are under consideration for waste container fabrication. This study focuses on the effects of gamma irradiation on the electrochemical mechanisms of corrosion for the prospective waste container materials. The radiolytic production of such species as hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid are shown to exert an influence on corrosion mechanisms and kinetics