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ABSTRACT
This article deals with the management of corrosion in the French nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, from the R&D angle. Nitric acid used for the dissolution of used fuel leads to some specific corrosion phenomena. Suitable materials such as stainless steels and zirconium have been chosen to effectively resist to such an oxidizing environment. This article describes the properties of these materials, the various possible modes of degradation, the factors influencing this corrosion as well as the various means implemented to control the aging of installations.
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Read the articleAUTHORS
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Fanny BALBAUD: Research engineer - Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Department of Corrosion and Behavior of Materials in their Environment, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Nathalie GRUET: Research engineer - Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Department of Corrosion and Behavior of Materials in their Environment, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Benoît GWINNER: Research engineer - Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Department of Corrosion and Behavior of Materials in their Environment, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Pierre LAGHOUTARIS: Research engineer - Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Department of Corrosion and Behavior of Materials in their Environment, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Beatriz PUGA: Research engineer - Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, Department of Corrosion and Behavior of Materials in their Environment, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
INTRODUCTION
In any industrial sector, corrosion control is a major economic and safety issue. In the nuclear industry (including spent fuel reprocessing and recycling plants), replacing corroded equipment is particularly costly and time-consuming due to the radioactive environment. In order to control the risks associated with corrosion, this field has been the focus of active R&D for decades in France. The aim of this R&D is to specify/understand the corrosion modes and mechanisms of materials, and to quantify their degradation kinetics. This knowledge helps to ensure the proper operation of existing installations, to propose palliative solutions in the event of unanticipated degradation, to prepare equipment replacement and to make appropriate material choices when building new installations. The aim of this article is to present an overview of corrosion mechanisms in spent fuel reprocessing plants. By its very nature, corrosion results from the interaction between a material and its environment. The first section describes the properties of the main environment encountered in the plant, the nitric acid used in the process to dissolve the fuel (the case of vitrification and corrosion of installations by molten glass is not dealt with here). It may contain fission products and minor actinides, which can contribute to corrosion. A second section presents the materials selected (stainless steels and zirconium) to withstand this acid and oxidizing environment. The corrosion modes of these two families of materials in this environment are then the subject of the third and fourth parts, respectively. Finally, the influence of major parameters on the corrosion of these systems is discussed in the last section.
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KEYWORDS
zirconium | nitric acid | stainless steels | degradation modes | oxidizing environment
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Nuclear engineering
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Corrosion in spent fuel reprocessing plants
Fuel dissolution medium
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