It is crucial to be sure about the safety of nuclear facilities for human resources who are in danger of radioactive emission, also diminishing the volume of the wastes that are buried under the ground. Chemical decontamination of nuclear facilities can provide these demands at the same time by dissolving the oxide layer, which radionuclides such as 60Co and 58Co have been penetrated, of parts that are utilized in nuclear plants. Although there are many commercial methods to approaching its aim and they perform a high decontamination factor, they have some issues such as applying organic acids which have the ability to chelate with radionuclides that can be washed by underground water, have large quantities of radioactive waste and damage to the surface by severe intergranular attack. A new method has been introduced by KAERI’s scientist which is named the HyBRID Process, in this process the main solution is the acidic form of Hydrazine. In this process, like other acid-washing processes, there is a chance of corrosion on the metal surface which is not desired. The metal surface is able to be protected during dissolving process by adding some organic and inorganic corrosion inhibitors such as PP2 and PP3. There is a very new research topic about ionic liquids (ILs) as corrosion inhibitors which illustrates a vast potential for this application due to their tunable nature and the variety of options for cationic and anionic parts. The key factors for ILs corrosion inhibitors such as the hardness properties are summarized. In this study, we review to the fundamentals and development of corrosion inhibitors for chemical decontamination and give an prospect with emphasis on the challenges to be overcome.

KAERI has been developing a new decontamination process that does not contain any organic chemicals in the decontamination solution and minimizes the use of ion exchange resin in the solution as a purifying step. The process is hydrazine based reductive metal ion decontamination for decommissioning (HyBRID) and consists of N2H4, H2SO4 and Cu+ ions. The primary system of the LWR is composed of materials with high corrosion resistance, such as stainless steel and Inconel, but among the materials, the feeder and header of the primary system of the PHWR are composed of carbon steel (SA106Gr.B) with low corrosion resistance. Therefore, when decontamination of PHWRs, attention should be paid to corrosion of carbon steel. Since Fe3O4, a contaminating oxide film formed on the surface of carbon steel dissolves faster than ferrite or chromite formed on the surface of Inconel or stainless steel, the base material is exposed to the solution and is corroded during decontamination. When a large amount of iron ions is eluted into the decontamination agent due to corrosion of carbon steel, not only the soundness of the base metal is adversely affected, but also the amount of decontamination waste increases. The purpose of this study is to develop inhibitors that can minimize corrosion of carbon steel when decontamination of PHWRs using the HyBRID decontamination process. CG, 570S and PP3 were selected as corrosion inhibitors. In addition, corrosion tests of carbon steel were conducted in the HyBRID solution with corrosion inhibitors. The best corrosion inhibitors and optimal operating conditions were selected, and HyBRID decontamination agents with corrosion inhibitors were much better in corrosion resistance than existing commercial decontamination agents.

Corrosion is a natural, inevitable process, and is one of the world's most serious problems. Losses incurred due to corrosion are extremely expensive for society. Several technological strategies have been explored and implemented to address these losses. The use of inhibitors to prevent corrosion is a common and efficient method to reduce corrosion losses. This review covers Al and Al-composite corrosion inhibitors in chloride-containing solutions, because of their popularity in a broad array of industrial applications. A vast number of studies in the literature detail the common tendency of Al and Al-composites with reinforcements to deteriorate. Accordingly, it is worthwhile to employ inhibitors to protect them, as discussed in the present work. The emphasis is on selecting the smartest corrosion inhibitor and evaluating its performance. According to the study, the most commonly used corrosion inhibitors are 1,4-naphthoquinone (NQ), 1,5-naphthalene diol, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole-5-thiol (ATAT), ammonium tetrathiotungstate, clotrimazole, amoxicillin, antimicrobial and antifungal drugs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), potentiodynamic (PDP), and weight loss were among the most commonly used modern electrochemical technologies to test inhibitors’ efficacy under environmental conditions.

In this study, we investigated the C-V diagrams and metal surface related to the electrochemistry characterization of metal(nickel, SUS-304). We determined electrochemical measurement by using cyclic voltammetry with a three-electrode system. A measuring range was reduced from initial potential to -1350mV, continuously oxidized to 1650 mV and measured to the initial point. The scan rate were 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 mV/s. As a result, the C-V characterization of metal using N,N-dimethylacetamide and N,N-dimethylformamide inhibitors appeared irreversible process caused by the oxidation current from the cyclic voltammogram. After adding organic corrosion inhibitors, adsorption film constituted, and the passive phenomena happened. According to the results by cyclic voltammetry method, it was revealed that the addition of inhibitors containing amide functional group enhances the corrosion resistance properties.