Thermal Gradients and the Potential to Form Liquids in 3013 Containers

The potential for internal corrosion of hermetically sealed stainlesssteel containers of plutonium oxide is assumed to increasedramatically when an aqueous electrolyte phase of high chlorideion concentration forms in contact with an internal containersurface. This potential for liquid formation will not be uniformlydistributed over the inner surface, but rather will be influencedby contact with solid phase contained material, by total moisturecontent, by temperature, and by the hydration and solution thermochemicalproperties of the various phases in the heterogeneousmaterial. With knowledge of the amount of contained moisture,the contained quantities of certain material phases with highestaffinity for moisture, and the thermal profile of the container andcontents, it is possible in principle to determine whether a liquidphase can form and if so, where in the container it will occur.This paper discusses the likely moisture distribution and liquidphase formation in existing packages based on temperature measurements,thermal models, thermodynamics of known phases,and measured water partial pressures.