Predicting the Lifetimes of Nuclear Waste Containers

As for many aspects of the disposal of nuclear waste, the greatest challenge we have in the study of container materials is the prediction of the long-term performance over periods of tens to hundreds of thousands of years. Various methods have been used for predicting the lifetime of containers for the disposal of high-level waste or spent fuel in deep geological repositories. Both mechanical and corrosion-related failure mechanisms need to be considered, although until recently the interactions of mechanical and corrosion degradation modes have not been considered in detail. Failure from mechanical degradation modes has tended to be treated through suitable container design. In comparison, the inevitable loss of container integrity due to corrosion has been treated by developing specific corrosion models. The most important aspect, however, is to be able to justify the long-term predictions by demonstrating a mechanistic understanding of the various degradation modes.