Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:30:29.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Formulation and Processing of Polyphase Ceramics for High Level Nuclear Waste

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Alan B. Harker ,
Peter E. D. Morgan ,
David R. Clarke  and
John F. Flintoff
Alan B. Harker
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Science Center, 1049 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
Peter E. D. Morgan
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Science Center, 1049 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
David R. Clarke
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Science Center, 1049 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
John F. Flintoff
Affiliation:
Rockwell International Science Center, 1049 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, California 91360, USA
Get access

Abstract

Two basic crystalline phase assemblages have been developed for incorporating the full range of Savannah River Plant waste compositions into polyphase ceramic forms. Both phase assemblages provide crystalline host phases, with stable mineral analogues, for all radionuclides in the waste. The first, an alumina based assemblage, immobilizes the radioactive elements in solid solutions of magnetoplumbite and uraninite with the bulk non-radioactive waste elements being present in spinel and nepheline. The second assemblage uses the titanate based “zirconolite” type fluorite structure and the alumina/iron based magnetoplumbite phases to host the radioactive nuclei with spinel and nepheline, again providing crystalline hosts for the non-radioactive elements. Both phase assemblages can be consolidated to a fine grain ceramic by hot isostatic pressing at 1040°C pressures from 20,000 to 30,000 psi. Redox control during processing, just sufficient to reduce uranium to the tetravalent state, is used.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 6: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management IV , 1981 , 567
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1982

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.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Hatch, L. P., Ultimate Disposal of Radioactive Wastes, Am. Scientist 41: 410 (1953).Google Scholar
2. Morgan, P. E. D., Clarke, D. R., Jantzen, C. M. and Harker, A. B., High Alumina Tailored Nuclear Waste Ceramics, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 64:249–258 (1981).Google Scholar
3. Harker, A. B., Jantzen, C. M., Morgan, P. E. D. and Clarke, D. R., Tailored Ceramic Nuclear Waste Forms: Preparation and Characterization, in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, Vol. 3, ed. Moore, J. G. (Plenum Press, N.Y.) 139–146 (1981).Google Scholar
4. Campbell, J., Hoenig, C., Ryerson, F., Bazan, F., Wolery, T., Guinan, M., Rozsa, R. and Van Koynenburg, R., Immobilization of High-Level Defense Wastes in Synroc: An Appraisal of Product Performance, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, preprint UCRL–84913 (1981).Google Scholar
5. Stone, J. A., Goforth, S. T. Jr and Smith, P. K., Preliminary Evaluation of Alternative Forms for Immobilization of Savannah River Plant High- Level Waste, SRL-DP–1545:98 (1979).Google Scholar
6. Verstegen, J. M. P. J. and Stevels, A. L. W., Relation Between Crystal Structure and Luminescence in β-Alumina and Magnetoplumbite Phases, J. Lumin 9:406–414 (1974).Google Scholar
7. Rossel, H. J., Zirconolite, a Fluorite-Related Superstructure, Nature 283:282–283 (1980).Google Scholar
8. Rossel, H. J., Personal Communication, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (1981).Google Scholar
9. Morgan, P. E. D., Highly Conducting Oxide Materials, Proceedings of the Workshop on High Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells May 5–6, 1977, Brookhaven National Laboratory publication, BNL 50756:54–55 (1977).Google Scholar
10. Davis, D. D., Vance, E. R. and McCarthy, G. J., Crystal Chemistry and Phase Relations in the Synthetic Minerals of Ceramic Waste Forms II. Studies of Uranium-Containing Monazites, Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management Vol. 3, ed. Moore, J. G. (Plenum Press, N.Y.) 197:200 (1981).Google Scholar