Strategic Research: In-Tank Generation of Corrosion Inhibitors

Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. Abstract Prevention of stress corrosion cracking and pitting corrosion in high-level waste (HLW) tanks requires the periodic addition of corrosion inhibitors, sodium hydroxide and sodium nitrite. These inhibitor ions can be generated electrochemically from the nitrate present in the waste. Thus, a continuously operated electrochemical reactor placed in the top of the tank could generate nitrite and hydroxide. In-tank generation would eliminate the need to continually add process chemicals resulting in cost savings associated with the procurement, pretreatment and disposal of these chemicals. Experiments examined whether both nitrite and hydroxide could be generated simultaneously from a simple waste simulant in a single electrolytic cell. Results indicated that hydroxide, but not nitrite, formed at a rate that would be effective for in-tank generation. Nitrate reduction proceeded beyond the production of nitrite to produce other nitrogen-containing products. We recommend additional testing to identify an optimum cathode material for nitrite production. Alternatively, the in-tank generator may feature a divided cell configuration or dual electrochemical cells in which one cell generates hydroxide and the second cell generates nitrite. Introduction High-level waste (HLW) storage tanks at the Savannah River and Hanford sites feature carbon steel materials of construction. The alkaline wastes contain large amounts of corrosive species, chiefly nitrate with lesser amounts of sulfate and halides. Previous testing indicated two important corrosion mechanisms associated with the storage of the alkaline HLW, stress corrosion cracking and pitting corrosion. Hydroxide and nitrite ions are excellent inhibiting species for both corrosion mechanisms.