Some scientific considerations on the article: ‘Scientific basis for corrosion of copper in water and implications for canister lifetimes’ published by F. King and C. Lilja

Abstract

There has for the past 30 years been a debate regarding whether corrosion of copper can occur in anoxic water. In short the debate has been between experiments showing that corrosion of copper can occur and theory that predicts that it will not occur. The thermodynamics of copper corrosion, particularly, that copper cannot corrode in anoxic water, is a fundamental prerequisite for the Swedish repository concept for spent nuclear fuel developed by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (SKB). Thus, in 1986 and subsequently Hultquist and co-workers experimentally confirmed that corrosion of copper can occur in some conditions. However, this research is generally assumed to be incorrect, most recently by a paper by King and Lilja in this journal. In this article I will develop the argument that Hultquist's work should not be so disregarded.