Inhibition of localized corrosion for stainless steels in low-level radioactive water containing chloride

This study concerns corrosion by an aqueous low-energy radionuclide at low concentration in presence of chloride at slightly alkaline pH and taking as example tritiated water and two stainless steels and two inhibitors for preliminary talks. Tritium is one of more important radionuclides used in nuclear industry as plutonium and uranium. In nuclear installations, chloride ions are generally produced by degradation of organic seals and oils used for tightness and pumping. Increasing chloride concentration enhances the pitting corrosion. The choice of inhibitors was dictated by their inertness to the radiolysis in low-level tritiated water. According to our results, it is feasible to treat non-negligible volume of low-level tritiated water with borate inhibitor.