Accelerated Testing of Neutron-Absorbing Alloys for Nuclear Criticality Control

The U.S. Department of Energy requires nuclear criticality control materials be used for the storage of highly enriched spent nuclear fuel used in government programs and the storage of commercial spent nuclear fuel at the proposed High-Level Nuclear Waste Geological Repository located at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Two different metallic alloys (Ni-Cr-Mo-Gd and borated stainless steel) have been chosen for this service. An accelerated corrosion test program to validate these materials for this application is described, and a performance comparison is made.