The electrochemistry of carbon steel in simulated concrete pore water in boom clay repository environments

D.D. Macdonald, A. Saleh, S.K. Lee, O. Azizi, O. Rosas-Camacho, A. Al-Marzooqi and M. Taylor

Center for Electrochemical Sciences and Technology, Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA

Published online: 12 April 2011

Abstract

The prediction of corrosion damage of canisters to experimentally inaccessible times is vitally important in assessing various concepts for the disposal of High Level Nuclear Waste. Such prediction can only be made using deterministic models, whose predictions are constrained by the time-invariant natural laws. In this paper, we describe the measurement of experimental electrochemical data that will allow the prediction of damage to the carbon steel overpack of the super container in Belgium’s proposed Boom Clay repository by using the Point Defect Model (PDM). PDM parameter values are obtained by optimizing the model on experimental, wide-band electrochemical impedance spectroscopy data.