Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:43:42.393Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Alumina as a Matrix for Fixation of Fission Products

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Erich Zimmer ,
K. Scharf  and
S.-O. Schmidt
Erich Zimmer
Affiliation:
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Postfach 1913, 5170 Jülich, Germany
K. Scharf
Affiliation:
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Postfach 1913, 5170 Jülich, Germany
S.-O. Schmidt
Affiliation:
Forschungszentrum Jülich, Postfach 1913, 5170 Jülich, Germany
Get access

Abstract

Fission products and α-emitters from reprocessing plants ( HAW ) are incorporatedinto a ceramic matrix consisting of 90 w/o α-AI2O3 The amount of HAW in the product is 10 w/o. The matrix is produced by a sol-gel technique using a boehmite powder and a SiO2 sol as starting materials. To reduce the sintering temperature seeding with α-AI2O3 particlesis applied. The first step of the process is mixing of the starting materials with the nitric acid containing HAW. This results in the production of a gel. The gel is extruded and subsequently dried at 105ºC. Calcination is carried out in a hydrogen containing atmosphere. Finally, the material is sintered at 1300ºC. During heat treatment only minor volatilization is observed. Even cesium is almost completely retained sinceit forms an aluminosilicate (Cs2O. xSiO2. yAI2O3; feldspar type). The waste product has a total leach rate of 4 * 10-7g * cm-2 d-1 at 97ºC as determined in a Soxhlet apparatus. Under the same conditions, specific leaching rates of radiologically important nuclides, such as cesium and strontium, are approximately 10-6 g * cm-2 d-1. The process has the advantage that commercially available starting materialscan be used. In addition, only a moderate sintering temperature is required and pressingbefore or during sintering is not necessary.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 257: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XV , 1991 , 227
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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. Benedict, M., Pigford, Th. H., Levi, H.W., Nuclear Chemical Engineering, 2nd ed. (McGraw-Hill,New York, 1981), p. 581.Google Scholar
2. Ringwood, A. E., Kesson, S. E., Ware, N. G., Hibberson, W. D. and Major, A., Geochem. J., 13, 141 (1979).Google Scholar
3. Ringwood, A. E., Kesson, S. E., Reeve, K. D., Levins, D. M. and Ramm, E. J., in Radioactive Waste Forms for the Future, ed. by Lutze, W. and Ewing, R.C. (Elsevier Science Publishers, New York, 1988) pp. 233–334.Google Scholar
4. Campbell, J. H., Hoenig, C. L., Ackerman, F. J., Peters, P. E. and Grens, J. Z., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management V, edited by Lutze, W. (Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1982), p. 299.Google Scholar
5. Solomah, A. G., Odoj, R., Merz, E., Thiele, D., in SINTERING '87, 1, edited. by Somiya, S., Shimada, M., Yoshimura, M., Watanabe, R. (Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1987) p. 417.Google Scholar
6. Oversby, V. M. and Ringwood, A. E., in Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, edited by Topp, S. V. (Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., New York, 1982) p. 75.Google Scholar
7. Zimmer, E., Advances in Ceramics, 20: Nuclear Waste Management (The American Ceramic Society, 1986) p. 267.Google Scholar
8. Odoj, R., Massenspektrometrische Hochtemperaturuntersuchungen von Verbindungen des quasi-ternären Systems Cs20 - A12O3 - SiO2. Inaugural-Dissertation, Universität Bonn (1977).Google Scholar
9. Kumagai, M., Messing, G. L., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 68 (9), 500 (1985).Google Scholar
10. Doerr, W., Assmann, H., Maier, G., Steven, J., J. Nucl. Mat. B1, 135 (1979).Google Scholar