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Ancient Metallurgy and Nuclear Waste Containment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1992

Martha Goodway
Martha Goodway*
Affiliation:
Conservation Analytical Laboratory, MRC 534, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC 20560
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Abstract

Archaeological artifacts of glass, ceramic, and metal provide examples of long term durability and as such have been surveyed by the nuclear agencies of several countries as a possible guide to choices of materials for the containment of nuclear waste. In the case of metals evaluation is difficult because of the loss of many artifacts to recycling and corrosion processes, as well as by uncertainty as to the environmental history under which the remainder survived. More recently the study of ancient metallurgy has expanded to included other materials associated with metals processing.

It is suggested that an impermeable ceramic composite used in ancient metals processing installations should be reproduced and tested for its resistance to radiation damage. This material was synthesized more than two millennia ago and has a proven record of durability. These installations have had no maintenance but are intact, some still holding water.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 294: Symposium V – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XVI , 1992 , 605
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

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References

REFERENCES

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