The seminar dealt with two main issues: One was the need for a better understanding of the scientific basis for the alleged findings regarding copper corrosion in an oxygen-free environment. The other was to identify what more is needed in order to verify the existence of these mechanisms and any future impact they might have on a final repository.
“We think that it is good that these issues are brought out and discussed in a scientific forum. The seminar indicated that it is not just SKB that has a lot of unanswered questions about what Peter Szakálos and his colleagues presented,” says Peter Wikberg, Research Director at SKB.
There was consensus during the seminar about the difficulty to foresee complicated processes on the basis of individual experiments. There was also general agreement that it would be good to do several experiments in order to evaluate the actual existence of the alleged corrosion mechanisms, since the conclusions drawn from studies published to date do not adequately explain what might have happened.
During the seminar SKB’s copper expert, Christina Lilja, described the overall knowledge base on the corrosion issue and how SKB is working with safety analysis. She explained, for example, how many different kinds of calculations and experiments are needed in order to understand how the copper canisters in the final repository can last for such long periods of time.
“Even though we have yet to find any evidence that this corrosion mechanism exists, we have included it in our long-term safety analysis. We can confirm that the final repository still lives up to our safety requirements. What will have the greatest impact on the speed of corrosion in the final repository are transports to and from the canister. It is primarily the bentonite clay in the final repository, as well as the rock, that will considerably reduce the effects of this transport,” says Christina Lilja.
“We are putting together all the pieces of the puzzle that can provide valuable knowledge about the final repository. It is in SKB’s interest that any questions with regard to copper corrosion in oxygen-free water are straightened out as soon as possible. For this reason SKB has initiated a number of studies, both experiments on their own and in cooperation with external research institutes, and we hope to soon have the answers that are needed in order to obtain a clear picture of this issue,” concludes Peter Wikberg, Research Director at SKB.
For more information:
Jimmy Larsson-Hagberg, Press Relations Manager, SKB, +46 8 459 84 83, +46 70 269 91 15
Jessica Alsenlid Otterstål, Press Officer, SKB, +46 8 459 85 27, +46 70 242 07 27