The unlikelihood of localized corrosion of nuclear waste packages arising from deliquescent brine formation

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB) recently postulated a scenario for the formation of a deliquescent, divalent-cation (Ca, Mg) chloride brine from wind-blown dust on the surface of an alloy 22 container designed to hold radioactive waste. The NWTRB suggested that such brines could lead to localized penetrations of waste packages at a proposed repository in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. In response, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) sponsored an independent analysis, specifically examining and responding to a series of decision points in the NWTRB’s scenario. Only if all of these questions could be answered affirmatively would NWTRB’s scenario result in potential noncompliance with regulatory criteria. The EPRI analysis found that none of the questions has an affirmative answer.