Polarization Characteristics and Evaluation of Corrosion Rate of Stainless Steel in Nitric Acid Solution Containing ²³⁷Np

Abstract

In order to evaluate the corrosion of stainless steels used in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities, the immersion corrosion tests and polarization measurements were performed using R-SUS304ULC stainless steel in nitric acid solution containing a kind of radionuclides, ²³⁷Np. At temperatures above 328 K, the corrosion potential was higher than that in nitric acid solution and was near the transpassive region. From the comparison between the corrosion amount calculated by the immersion corrosion tests and the polarization resistance, the values of k＝0.018-0.025 V were obtained as a conversion factor, and the possibility of calculating the corrosion amount from the electrochemical measurement was examined.