Electroless plating of graphite with copper and nickel

Journal Article · Fri Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Journal of the Electrochemical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/1.2048468· OSTI ID:197684

Caturla, F; Molina, F; Molina-Sabio, M; Rodriguez-Reinoso, F ^[1]; Esteban, A ^[2]

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1. Univ. de Alicante (Spain). Dept. de Quimica Inorganica
2. CIEMAT, Madrid (Spain)

Decommissioning in the European Union of gas-cooled nuclear reactors using graphite as the moderator will generate a large amount of irradiated graphite as waste. Graphite is a radioactive waste of relatively low activity and consequently the options considered for the management of the waste may include: (i) incineration, (ii) ocean bed disposal, (iii) deep geological disposal, and (iv) shallow land burial. In case the last is the selected mode, an appropriate conditioning procedure is necessary before final disposal, by covering the graphite with a material avoiding or reducing the emission of radionuclides to its surrounding. This work analyses the possibility of conditioning graphite pieces (with a large proportion of pores of different sizes up to 100 {micro}m) with a metal coating of copper or nickel produced by electroless plating, with the aim of completely isolating the graphite from its surrounding. Electroless plating with copper results in a very large proportion of pores filled or covered, but a fraction of the pores remain in the graphite, which decreases with increasing thickness of metal deposit. Furthermore, the copper plating is permeable to liquids and consequently the graphite does not become completely isolated from the surrounding. The percentage of porosity filled or covered by nickel deposits is similar to copper, but they are not permeable to liquids, at least when the thickness is relatively high, and consequently the access of the liquids to the graphite is rather limited. However, when electroless plating with copper is followed by nickel deposition the graphite becomes isolated from the exterior.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 197684
• Journal Information: Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Journal Name: Journal of the Electrochemical Society Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 142; ISSN 0013-4651; ISSN JESOAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
CONTAINMENT
COPPER
GAS COOLED REACTORS
GRAPHITE
GROUND DISPOSAL
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MITIGATION
NICKEL
PLATING
POROUS MATERIALS
PROTECTIVE COATINGS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
REACTOR DECOMMISSIONING
WASTE FORMS