Prediction of external corrosion for steel cylinders at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant: Application of an empirical method

During the summer of 1995, ultrasonic wall thickness data were collected for 100 steel cylinders containing depleted uranium (DU) hexafluoride located at Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP) in Paducah, Kentucky. The cylinders were selected for measurement to assess the condition of the more vulnerable portion of the cylinder inventory at PGDP. The purpose of this report is to apply the method used in Lyon to estimate the effects of corrosion for larger unsampled populations as a function of time. The scope of this report is limited and is not intended to represent the final analyses of available data. Future efforts will include continuing analyses of available data to investigate defensible deviations from the conservative assumptions made to date. For each cylinder population considered, two basic types of analyses were conducted: (1) estimates were made of the number of cylinders as a function of time that will have a minimum wall thickness of either 0 mils (1 mil = 0.00 1 in.) or 250 mils and (2) the current minimum wall thickness distributions across cylinders were estimated for each cylinder population considered. Additional analyses were also performed investigating comparisons of the results for F and G yards with the results presented in Lyon (1995)