Corrosion of copper-coated used nuclear fuel containers due to oxygen trapped in a Canadian deep geological repository

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is evaluating the safety and feasibility of the permanent disposal of used nuclear fuel in a deep geological repository. Their current design concept utilises copper-coated steel used fuel containers to isolate the waste from the environment. Immediately following repository closure, a finite quantity of O2 will be trapped inside the repository and could cause some amount of oxic corrosion to the outer...