Galvanic Corrosion of Mg-Zr Alloy and Steel or Graphite in Mineral Binders

The dismantling of UNGG nuclear reactor generates numerous nuclear wastes such as fuel decanning commonly composed of Mg-Zr alloy. A conditioning strategy consists in encapsulating these wastes into a hydraulic binder in a suitable state for storage. The eventual presence of steel and graphite accompanying the magnesium wastes could imply corrosion by galvanic coupling. This work is an experimental investigation of the galvanic coupling between Mg-Zr alloy and steel or graphite using ZRA electrochemical method in Portland cement or geopolymer pastes. The lowest corrosion activity of magnesium alloy while coupled to graphite or steel cathode has been observed in geopolymer pastes. Indeed, in this binder, an efficient corrosion protection of the magnesium alloy maintains the galvanic current very low during all the hardening process. In geopolymer paste, current densities of anodised Mg-Zr alloy is not dependent of the cathode/anode surface ratio in the range of 0.1 to 5 due to the dominance of the anode resistance.