Impact of thermal loading on waste package material performance

Abstract

This report focuses on the prediction of materials performance for the carbon steel corrosion-allowance container as a function of thermal loading for the potential repository at Yucca Mountain. Low, intermediate and high thermal loads were evaluated as to their performance given assumptions regarding the temperature and humidity changes with time and the resultant depth of corrosion penetration. The reference case involved a kinetic relation for corrosion that was utilized in a sensitivity analysis to examine the impacts of time exponent, pitting, and mirobiologically-influenced corrosion. As a result of this study, the high thermal load appears to offer the best corrosion performance. However, other factors must be considered in making the final thermal loading decision.