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Cesium Extraction from Cs0.8Ba0.4Ti8O16 Hollandite Nuclear Waste Form Ceramics in Nitric Acid Solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2005

Vittorio Luca*
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, NSW 2234, Australia
David Cassidy
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, NSW 2234, Australia
Elizabeth Drabarek
Affiliation:
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, NSW 2234, Australia
Keith Murray
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
Boujemaa Moubaraki
Affiliation:
School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The leaching of Cs from well-characterized Cs-bearing hollandite powders with ideal formula Cs0.8Ba0.4Ti8O16 was studied at 200 °C under static oxidizing conditions achieved using dilute nitric acid solutions. A variety of techniques were used to elucidate the leaching mechanism including x-ray powder diffraction, magnetic susceptibility, x-ray absorption near edge structure, and electron microscopy. Under the conditions of the study, Cs is leached from Cs-hollandite according to a deceleratory rate law with contracting geometries. The principal reaction products are rutile and brookite. The leaching mechanism involves the formation of a quasi-continuous, and hence relatively impermeable, secondary titanium oxide phase (rutile and/or brookite) on the surfaces of the hollandite crystallites. The driving force for the leaching reaction appears to be the oxidation of Ti3+ in the structure by the oxidizing acid, which then promotes extraction of Cs and Ba from the hollandite tunnels followed by tunnel destabilization and transformation to rutile and brookite.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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