Corrosion of steel drums containing cemented ion-exchange resins as intermediate level nuclear waste

•There are no works related to the corrosion of drums containing radioactive waste.•Chloride induces high corrosion rate and after 1 year it drops abruptly.•Decrease in the corrosion rate is due to the lack of water to sustain the process.•Cementated ion-exchange resins do not pose risks of corrosion of the steel drums.

Exhausted ion-exchange resins used in nuclear reactors are immobilized by cementation before being stored. They are contained in steel drums that may undergo internal corrosion depending on the presence of certain contaminants. The objective of this work is to evaluate the corrosion susceptibility of steel drums in contact with cemented ion-exchange resins with different aggressive species. The corrosion potential and the corrosion rate of the steel, and the electrical resistivity of the matrix were monitored for 900 days. Results show that the cementation of ion-exchange resins seems not to pose special risks regarding the corrosion of the steel drums.