The National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program, located at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), has developed a new nickel-chromium-molybdenum-gadolinium structural alloy for storage and long-term disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The new alloy will be used for SNF storage container inserts for nuclear criticality control. Gadolinium has been chosen as the neutron absorption alloying element due to its high thermal neutron absorption cross section. This alloy must be resistant to localized corrosion when exposed to postulated Yucca Mountain in-package chemistries. The corrosion resistance properties of three experimental heats of this alloy are presented. The alloys performance are be compared to Alloy 22 and borated stainless steel. The results show that initially the new Ni-Cr-Mo-Gd alloy is less resistant to corrosion as compared to another Ni-Cr-Mo-Gd alloy (Alloy 22); but when the secondary phase that contains gadolinium (gadolinide) is dissolved, the alloy surface becomes passive.

The focus of this work is to qualify these gadolinium containing materials for ASME code qualification and acceptance in the Yucca Mountain Repository.

Subject
Scanning electron microscopy, Electric current, Gadolinium, Test methods, Materials, Corrosion resistant alloys, Stainless alloys, Corrosion rate, Nickel based alloys, Yucca mountain, Nickel chromium molybdenum alloys, Heat, Corrosion potential
Keywords:
neutron absorbing material, nickel-based alloy, gadolinium, Yucca Mountain, corrosion rate, localized corrosion
© 2005 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
2005
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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