Effects of Salt Formation on the Chemical Environment of a High- Level Nuclear Waste Repository

In the absence of mechanical disruption, aqueous corrosion will be the primary degradation process limiting the life of waste packages (WPs) and drip shields (DSs) in the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain (YM), Nevada. In a hot repository setting, evaporation processes would increase the aqueous concentrations of Cl–, F–, and other ions and lead to the accumulation of multicomponent salt deposits on DS and WP surfaces. Inorganic salts are generally hygroscopic and will absorb moisture from humid air, generating small volumes of potentially corrosive brines. In this study, thermodynamic modeling was done to evaluate the effect of salt formation on the chemical environment of DSs and WPs at the proposed repository. The deliquescence behavior of salt mixtures was calculated using thermodynamic considerations and compare