ZAG participates in EURAD WP ACED Task 2 (Interface scale) for the Bacuce in situ experiments and investigates the corrosion behaviour of steel in bentonite-cement grouts (BCG) with low pH.
As a doctoral student at Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, my PhD took a different path in research in nuclear enivronments. My research is based on long-term corrosion monitoring of copper and carbon steel in the environment of deep geological repositories. In the Canadian concept, the container will be made from carbon steel with a 3-mm copper coating. In case of damage to the coating on the copper container, the carbon steel will be exposed to both copper and surrounding environment, which can lead to galvanic corrosion of the steel container. The container will be exposed to an oxic environment and further to an anoxic environment for a longer period of time. The coupled multi-electrode array can enable long-term corrosion monitoring of metals in simulated groundwater and bentonite slurry in oxic and anoxic environment. The coupled multi-electrode array continuously monitors corrosion currents in space and time and enables simultaneous spatial and temporal insight into electrochemical processes on individual electrodes. In these experiements, the coupled multi-electrode array was introduced to the anoxic environment in the anaerobic chamber (glove-box) at room temperature. The experiements investigated the electrochemical processes in an anoxic environment in bentonite slurry and simulated groundwater only. This research was performed at Western University which, is founded or co-funded by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), which is part of EURAD as an international partner. The research at Western University focuses on the application of advanced electrochemical techniques and advanced surface anaylsis to enable research in various corrosion processes, especially those that may impact the integrity of the containers for storage of spent nuclear fuel.
