A STUDY OF CORROSION AND STRESS CORROSION CRACKING OF CARBON STEEL NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE TANKS

Conference · Tue Aug 21 04:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:913186

BOOMER, K D

The Hanford reservation Tank Farms in Washington State has 177 underground storage tanks that contain approximately 50 million gallons of liquid legacy radioactive waste from cold war plutonium production. These tanks will continue to store waste until it is treated and disposed. These nuclear wastes were converted to highly alkaline pH wastes to protect the carbon steel storage tanks from corrosion. However, the carbon steel is still susceptible to localized corrosion and stress corrosion cracking. The waste chemistry varies from tank to tank, and contains various combinations of hydroxide, nitrate, nitrite, chloride, carbonate, aluminate and other species. The effect of each of these species and any synergistic effects on localized corrosion and stress corrosion cracking of carbon steel have been investigated with electrochemical polarization, slow strain rate, and crack growth rate testing. The effect of solution chemistry, pH, temperature and applied potential are all considered and their role in the corrosion behavior will be discussed.

• Research Organization: Hanford Site (HNF), Richland, WA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE - Office of Environmental Management (EM)
• DOE Contract Number: AC27-99RL14047
• OSTI ID: 913186
• Report Number(s): RPP-34657-FP REV 0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ALUMINATES
CARBON STEELS
CHEMISTRY
CORROSION
CRACK PROPAGATION
HANFORD RESERVATION
PLUTONIUM
POLARIZATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
STORAGE
STORAGE FACILITIES
STRAIN RATE
STRESS CORROSION
TANKS
TESTING
UNDERGROUND STORAGE
WASTES