General corrosion of carbon steel in a synthetic concrete pore solution

Abstract In this study, we reviewed our recent work on the general corrosion of carbon steel (P355QL2) overpack material for the isolation of high‐level nuclear waste in Belgium's supercontainer concept. By using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and by optimizing the mixed potential model, which incorporates quantum mechanical tunneling of charge carriers across the barrier layer to describe the kinetics of the partial cathodic process, we evaluated all parameters in the model as a function of independent variables such as voltage, temperature, and pH. By delineating the partial anodic and cathodic processes, we found that the corrosion rate (CR) is independent of voltage over the voltage range from 0.2 to −1.0 V SHE , which is predicted to be experienced in the repository. Furthermore, the CR is found to increase strongly with decreasing pH and increasing temperature.