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Microstructure of Simulated High-Level Waste Glass Doped with Short-Lived Actinides, 238Pu and 244Cm

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Y. Inagaki ,
H. Furuya ,
K. Idemitsu ,
T. Banba ,
S. Matsumoto  and
S. Muraoka
Y. Inagaki
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineerig, Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka 812, JAPAN
H. Furuya
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineerig, Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka 812, JAPAN
K. Idemitsu
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineerig, Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka 812, JAPAN
T. Banba
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Safety Research, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokaimura, Ibaraki-ken 319-11, JAPAN
S. Matsumoto
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Safety Research, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokaimura, Ibaraki-ken 319-11, JAPAN
S. Muraoka
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Safety Research, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokaimura, Ibaraki-ken 319-11, JAPAN
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Abstract

The microstructural changes of a simulated waste glass irradiated with doping of 238pu and 244Cm were observed by use of a preshadowed carbon replica technique in combination with scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The irradiated glass was annealed and its microstructural changes after annealing were observed by use of the sametechnique.

In the glass irradiated at a dose of 2.75x1025 α-decays/m3, bubbles with a radius from 0.15μrm to 0.35μm were observed. The average bubble radius and the bubble density were 0.23μm and 1x1017 bubbles/m3, respectively. Using these observed values, the volume change of the glass resulting from the bubble formation was estimated to be + 0.51 %. This valuoof + 0.51 % was close to the volume change of the irradiated glass measured in our previous study, which suggests a large portion of the volume change by α-irradiation results from bubble formation. In the glass annealed after irradiation the average bubbleradius was observed to decrease with annealing time. The bubble radius as a function of annealing time was analyzed on the basis of the helium diffusion model with two chemicalprocesses, i.e. trapping at bubbles and re-solution from bubbles into glass matrix. The values of the diffusion coefficient of helium, the trapping parameter and the re-solution parameter, which had been obtained experimentally in our previous study on the helium release, were applied to the calculation. The calculated curve was in good agreement with the observed data.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 257: Symposium – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XV , 1991 , 199
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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References

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