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Corrosion of a Plutonium-Bearing Titanate Ceramic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

E. C. Buck ,
T. DiSanto ,
A. J. Bakel  and
J. K. Bates
E. C. Buck
Affiliation:
Chemical Technology Division Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL60439
T. DiSanto
Affiliation:
Chemical Technology Division Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL60439
A. J. Bakel
Affiliation:
Chemical Technology Division Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL60439
J. K. Bates
Affiliation:
Chemical Technology Division Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL60439
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A titanate-based ceramic waste form, rich in phases structurally related to zirconolite (CaZrTi2O7), is being developed as a possible candidate for immobilizing excess plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons. The waste form is made by cold pressing and sintering of CaO, TiO2, ZrO2, A12O3, BaO, and Gd and Pu oxides. A prototype Pu-loaded ceramic that is being tested contains Pu,Gd-zirconolite-(3T), Pu-bearing brannerite, Gd-zirconolite-(4M), zirconolite-(2M) (see Figure 1), rutile (TiO2), Gd-bearing perovskites, various aluminotitanate phases, and undissolved plutonium oxide. Evidence from laboratory testing and natural analogues of titanates suggests that these phases are extremely corrosion resistant. Zirconolite-rich ceramics have also been considered for the disposal of actinide-bearing waste streams, because zirconolite and related polytypes are able to incorporate at least 20 wt% of actinides. However, since each phase in the multiphase ceramic corrodes at a different rate, the release of any one component or the corrosion of the bulk waste form is difficult to predict

Type
Ceramics and Ceramic Composites
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 3 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '97, Microscopy Society of America 55th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 31st Annual Meeting, Histochemical Society 48th Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, August 10-14, 1997 , August 1997 , pp. 747 - 748
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

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References

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This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Materials Disposition, under contract W-31-109-ENG-38.Google Scholar