Hostname: page-component-669899f699-chc8l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-27T18:45:02.912Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Zircon: A host-phase for the disposal of weapons plutonium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

R.C. Ewing ,
Werner Lutze  and
William J. Weber
R.C. Ewing*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131–1341
Werner Lutze
Affiliation:
Center for Radioactive Waste Management, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
William J. Weber
Affiliation:
Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author.
Get access

Abstract

Zircon, ZrSiO4, is a well-characterized, naturally occurring phase that is extremely durable. Zircon has been synthesized with Pu-concentrations up to 10 wt. % and radiation-damage effects studied to saturation doses of nearly 0.8 displacements per atom. We propose that zircon be used as a waste form for the disposal of the more than 100 metric tons of plutonium that will result from the dismantling of nuclear weapons. There are already several demonstrated processing technologies, of which hot pressing offers the most potential. This highly durable material, even under hydrothermal conditions, with its high waste loading and smaller volume allows deep, permanent disposal of the weapons plutonium in geologic environments in which the borosilicate waste-form glass would not be stable.

Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , February 1995 , pp. 243 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

1Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium (National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, 1994).Google Scholar
2Hanchar, J. M. and Miller, C. F., Chemical Geology 110, 1 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Hutton, C. O., Bull. Geological Soc. Am. 61, 635 (1950).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4Mueller, P. A., Heatherington, A. L., Wooden, J. L., Shuster, R. D., Nutman, A. P., and Williams, I. S., Geology 22, 119 (1994).2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Barton, E. S., Altermann, W., Williams, I. S., and Smith, C. B., Geology 22, 343 (1994).2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Pidgeon, R. T., O'Neil, J. R., and Silver, L.T., Science 154, 1538 (1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7Craig, H., Science 159, 447 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8Krogh, T. E. and Davis, G. L., Carnegie Inst. Washington Yearbook 74, 619 (1975).Google Scholar
9Suzuki, K., Geochemical J. 21, 173 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Harker, A. B. and Flintoff, J. F., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 68, 159 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11Harker, A. B. and Flintoff, J. F., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 73, 1901 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Robinson, K., Gibbs, G. V., and Ribbe, P. H., Am. Mineral. 56, 782 (1971).Google Scholar
13Taylor, M. and Ewing, R. C., Acta Crystallogr. B34, 1074 (1978).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14Keller, C., Nukleonik 5, 41 (1963).Google Scholar
15Speer, J. A., Reviews in Mineralogy, Orthosilicates (2nd ed.) (Mineralogical Society of America, Chelsea, MI, 1982), Vol. 5, Chap. 4, pp. 113–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Speer, J. A. and Cooper, B. J., Am. Mineral. 67, 804 (1982).Google Scholar
17Mumpton, F. A. and Roy, R., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 21, 217 (1961).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18Weber, W. J., J. Mater. Res. 5, 2687 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19Weber, W. J., Radiat. Eff. Defects in Solids 115, 341 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20Ewing, R. C., Nucl. Instrum. Methods in Phys. Res. B91, 22 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21Holland, H. D. and Gottfried, D., Acta Crystallogr. 8, 291 (1955).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22Murakami, T., Chakoumakos, B. C., Ewing, R. C., Lumpkin, G. R., and Weber, W. J., Am. Mineral. 76, 1510 (1991).Google Scholar
23Farges, F. and Calas, G., Am. Mineral. 76, 60 (1991).Google Scholar
24Woodhead, J. A., Rossman, G. R., and Silver, L. T., Am. Mineral. 76, 74 (1991).Google Scholar
25Weber, W. J., Ewing, R. C., and Wang, L-M., J. Mater. Res. 9, 688 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
26Weber, W. J. and Maupin, G. D., Nucl. Instrum. Methods in Phys. Res. B32, 512 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27Wang, L. M., Ewing, R. C., Weber, W. J., and Eby, R. K., in Beam-Solid Interactions: Fundamentals and Applications, edited by Nastasi, M., Harriott, L. R., Herbots, N., and Averback, R. S. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 279, Pittsburgh, PA, 1993), pp. 451–456.Google Scholar
28Ewing, R. C., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XVI, edited by Interrante, C.G. and Pabalan, R. T. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 294, Pittsburgh, PA, 1993), pp. 559–568.Google Scholar
29Weber, W. J., Minerals, J., Metals and Materials Society 43, 35 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30Inagaki, Y., Furuya, H., Idemitsu, K., Banba, T., Matsumoto, S., and Muraoka, S., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XV, edited by Sombret, C. G. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 257, Pittsburgh, PA, 1992), pp. 199–206.Google Scholar
31Ellsworth, S., Navrotsky, A., and Ewing, R. C., Physics and Chemistry of Minerals 21, 140 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
32McLaren, A. C., Fitzgerald, J. D., and Williams, I. S., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 58, 993 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33Farges, F., Physics and Chemistry of Minerals 20, 504 (1994).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
34Chakoumakos, B. C., Murakami, T., Lumpkin, G. R., and Ewing, R. C., Science 236, 1556 (1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35Wayne, D. M. and Sinha, A. K., Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 98, 109 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36Wayne, D. M., Sinha, A. K., and Hewitt, D. A., Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 109, 408 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37Ewing, R. C., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, edited by McCarthy, G. (Plenum Press, New York, 1979), pp. 57–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
38Ewing, R. C. and Jercinovic, M. J., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management X, edited by Bates, J. K. and Seefeldt, W. B. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 84, Pittsburgh, PA, 1987), pp. 67–86.Google Scholar
39Sinha, A. K., Wayne, D. M., and Hewitt, D. A., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 3551 (1992).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
40Tole, M. P., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 49, 453 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
41Ewing, R. C., Haaker, R. F., and Lutze, W., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management V, edited by Lutze, W. (Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 11, Elsevier Science Publishers, New York, 1982), pp. 389–397.Google Scholar
42Werme, L. O., Björner, I. K., Bart, G., Zwicky, H. U., Grambow, B., Lutze, W., Ewing, R. C., and Magrabi, C., J. Mater. Res. 5, 1130 (1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
43Lutze, W. and Ewing, R. C., in Radioactive Waste Forms for the Future, edited by Lutze, W. and Ewing, R. C. (North-Holland Physics, Amsterdam, 1988), pp. 699–740.Google Scholar
44Chakoumakos, B. C., Oliver, W. C., Lumpkin, G. R., and Ewing, R. C., Radiat. Eff. Defects in Solids 118, 393 (1991).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
45Ozkan, H., J. Appl. Phys. 47, 4772 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
46Defense Waste Processing Facility—Cost, Schedule, and Technical Issues, GAO/RCED 92-183 (U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C., 1992).Google Scholar
47Butterman, W. C. and Foster, W. R., Am. Mineral. 52, 880 (1967).Google Scholar
48Komarneni, S. and Roy, R., in Zircon, Science and Technology, edited by Sōmiya, S. (Uchidarokakuho, Japan, 1988), pp. 289–298.Google Scholar
49Uhrin, R., Belt, R. F., and Puttbach, R. C., J. Cryst. Growth 21, 65 (1974).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
50Caruba, R., Baumer, A., and Turco, G., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 39, 11 (1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
51Kanno, Y., J. Mater. Sci. 24, 2415 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
52Kanno, Y. and Suzuki, T., Mater. Sci. Lett. 8, 41 (1989).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
53Mori, T., Yamamura, H., Kobayashi, H., and Mitamura, T., J. Mater. Sci. 28, 4970 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
54Gentry, R. V., Sworski, T. J., McKown, H.S., Smith, D. H., Eby, R. E., and Christie, W. H., Science 216, 296 (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
55Ludwig, K. R., Zartman, R. E., and Goldich, S. S., Science 223, 835 (1984).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
56Shannon, R. D., Acta Crystallogr. A32, 751 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar