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Ion Implantation Studies of Nuclear Waste Forms*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Clyde J. M. Northrup Jr. ,
George W. Arnold  and
Thomas J. Headley
Clyde J. M. Northrup Jr.
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories**, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
George W. Arnold
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories**, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Thomas J. Headley
Affiliation:
Sandia National Laboratories**, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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Abstract

The first observations of physical and chemical changes induced by lead implantation damage and leaching are reported for two proposed U.S. nuclear waste forms (PNL 76–68 borosilicate glass and Sandia titanate ceramics) for commercial wastes. To simulate the effects of recoil nucleii due to alpha decay, the materials were implanted with lead ions at equivalent doses up to approximately 1 × 1019 a decays/cm3 . In the titanate waste form, the zirconolite, perovskite, hollandite, and rutile phases all exhibited a mottled appearance in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) typical of defect clusters in radiation damaged, crystalline solids. One titanate phase containing uranium was found by TEM to be amorphous after implantation at the highest dose. No enhanced leaching (deionized water, room temperature, 24 hours) of the irradiated titanate waste form, including the amorphous phase, was detected by TEM, but Rutherford backscattering (RBS) suggested a loss of cesium and calcium after 21 hours of leaching. The RBS spectra also indicated enhanced leaching from the PNL 76–68 borosilicate glass after implantation with lead ions, in general agreement with the observations of Dran, et al. [6,7] on other irradiated materials. Elastic recoil detection spectroscopy (ERD), used to profile hydrogen after leaching, showed penetration of the hydrogen to several thousand angstroms for both the implanted and unimplanted materials. These basic studies identified techniques to follow the changes that occur on implantation and leaching of complex amorphous and crystalline waste forms. These studies were not designed to produce comparisons between waste forms of gross leach rates.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 6: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management IV , 1981 , 667
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1982

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Footnotes

**

Sandia National Laboratories is a U. S. Department of Energy facility.

*

This work was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC04-76-DP00789.

References

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