Pinhole corrosion of CH-TRU waste containers by volatile organic compounds [electronic resource]
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| Online Access: |
Online Access |
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| Corporate Author: | |
| Format: | Government Document Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, D.C : Oak Ridge, Tenn. :
United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management ; distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy,
1998.
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| Subjects: |
| Abstract: | In the spring of 1996 at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Radioactive Waste Management Complex, an epidemic of corroded CH-TRU waste drums was encountered. The observed corrosion was in the form of rusty brown streaks that emanated from pinholes in about the upper one-third of the 55 gal drums. Wet streaks were tested as highly acidic by litmus paper. The liquid that emanated from the pinholes was found to be hydrochloric (HCl) acid. An investigation concluded that the pinholes were localized pitting corrosion caused by HCl acid formed in the drum headspace from reactions involving chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the waste and the unlined steel of the internal drum wall. The pinholes occurred in the upper parts of the drums because this corresponds to the internal headspace region above the rigid liner. Affected drums had a few to hundreds of pinholes with no detectable release of radioactivity. This was due to the internal packaging of waste in heavy polyethylene and/or polyvinyl chloride waste bags inside a rigid high-density polyethylene liner. The corrective action taken was to overpack pinhole corrosion drums into polyethylene-lined 83-gal drums and to test hundreds of drums with drum filters, but without pinhole corrosion, for the presence of HCl acid in the headspace gas with colorimetric tubes fitted to the drum filters. These colorimetric tubes contain a substance that changes color in reaction to HCl acid when headspace gas is drawn by a hand pump. Only drums that had a significant probability for the presence of HCl acid in the headspace were segregated in storage to allow ready inspection and efficient handling, if needed. It is recommended that any facility involved in the long-term storage of waste or other contents, that include chlorinated VOCs in unlined steel containers, be wary for the possible development of pinhole corrosion. |
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| Item Description: | Published through the Information Bridge: DOE Scientific and Technical Information. 03/01/1998. "INEEL/CON--97-00953" "CONF-980307--" "DE98052756" Waste management ̀98, Tucson, AZ (United States), 1-5 Mar 1998. Zeek, D.P. Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Co., Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Lab., Idaho Falls, ID (United States) |
| Physical Description: | 11 p. |