Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T06:31:18.129Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Zirconia – A Ceramic for Excess weapons Plutonium Wastes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

W. L. Gong ,
W. Lutze  and
R. C. Ewing
W. L. Gong
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
W. Lutze
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
R. C. Ewing
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, MI 48109, USA
Get access

Abstract

We synthesized a ceramic containing simulated excess weapons plutonium waste in solidsolution with zirconia (ZrO2)ss. ZrO2 has a large solubility for other metal oxides. More thantwenty binary systems AxOy- ZrO2 have been reported in the literature, including PuG2, rare earth elements, and oxides of metals contained in weapons plutonium wastes. We show that significant amounts of gadolinium (neutron absorber) and yttrium (stabilizer of the cubic modification) can be dissolved in ZrO2, together with plutonium (simulated by Th4+, Ce4+, or U4+) and impurities (e.g., Ca Mg, Fe, Si). Sol-gel and powder methods were applied to make homogeneous, single phase zirconia solid solutions. Pu waste impurities were completely dissolved in the solid solutions. In contrast to other phases, e.g., zirconolite and pyrochlore, yttrium stabilized cubic zirconia does not undergo amorphization upon irradiation.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 556: Symposium QQ – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXII , 1999 , 63
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1999

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. National Academy of Sciences, Management and Disposition of Excess Weapons Plutonium, National Academy Press, Washington D.C., 1994, 275 pages; W. Stoll, MRS Bull. March Volume, 6 (1998).Google Scholar
2. Oversby, V.M., McPheerers, C.C., Degueldre, C., and Paratte, J.M., J. Nucl. Mater. 245, 17 (1997).Google Scholar
3. Armantrout, G., Gray, L. W. and Myers, B., Plutonium immobilization form evaluation, in Proc. WM'98 CD-ROM, paper 65–1 (1998).Google Scholar
4. Ebbinghaus, B. B., VanKonyneburg, R. A., Ryerson, F. J., Vance, E. R., Stewart, M. W. A., Jostsons, A., Allender, J. S., Rankin, T., and Congdon, J., Ceramic formulation for the immobilization of plutonium, in Proc. WM'98 CD-ROM, paper 65–4 (1998).Google Scholar
5. Ringword, A.E., Kesson, S.E., Reeve, K. D., Levins, D. M., and Ramm, E. J., in Radioactive Waste Forms for the Future, edited by Lutze, W. and Ewing, R. C., Horth-Holland, pp. 233 (1988).Google Scholar
6. Ewing, R. C., Weber, W. J., and Lutze, W., in Disposal of Weapon Plutonium, edited by Merz, E. R. and Walter, C. E., Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 65 (1996).Google Scholar
7. Heimann, R. B. and Vandergraaf, T. T., J. Mater. Sci. Lett. 7, 583 (1988).Google Scholar
8. Li, P., Chen, I-W, and Penner-Hahn, J. E., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 77, 1281 (1994); 77, 1289 (1994).Google Scholar
9. Yoshimura, M., Ceram. Bull. 67, 1950 (1988); P. Li, I-W Chen, and J.E. Penner-Hahn, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 77, 118 (1993).Google Scholar
10. Carroll, D. F., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 46, 195 (1963).Google Scholar
11. Cohen, I. and Schaner, B. E., J. Nucl. Mater. 9, 18 (1963).Google Scholar
12. Mumpton, F. A. and Roy, R., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 43, 237 (1960).Google Scholar
13. Katamura., J., Seki, T., and Sakamu, T., J. Phase Equil. 16, 313 (1995).Google Scholar
14. Tani, E., Yoshimura, M., and Somiya, S., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 66, 506 (1983).Google Scholar
15. Chang, L. L. Y., Scroger, M. G., and Philips, B., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 50, 213 (1967).Google Scholar
16. Curtis, C. E. and Sowman, H. G., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 36, 168 (1953).Google Scholar
17. Djurado, E., Roux, C., and Hammou, A., J. Europ. Ceram. Soc. 16, 767 (1996).Google Scholar
18. Asaoka, H., J. Mater. Sci. 28, 4660 (1993).Google Scholar
19. Narwankar, P. K., Lange, F. F., and Levi, C. G., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 80, 1684 (1997).Google Scholar
20. Hirano, S., Yoshinaka, M., Hirota, K., and Yamaguchi, O., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 79, 171 (1996).Google Scholar
21. Barret, P. and Berthet, P., J. de Phys. IV 7, 1141 (1997).Google Scholar
22. Yin, Y. and Argent, B. B., J.Phase Equil. 14, 439 (1993).Google Scholar
23. Chen, S. Y., Deng, W. B., and Shen, P. Y., Mater. Sci. Eng. B 22, 247 (1994).Google Scholar
24. Qadri, S. B., Skelton, E. F., Lubitz, P., Nguyen, N. V., and Khan, H. R., Thin Solid Films 291 (1996).Google Scholar
25. Aoyama, T., Kurata, N., Hirota, K., and Yamaguchi, O., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 78, 3163 (1995).Google Scholar
26. Fagherazzi, G., Canton, P., Benedetti, A., Pinna, F., Mariotto, G., and Zanghellini, E., J. Mater. Res. 12, 318 (1997).Google Scholar
27. Prietzel, S., Gauckler, L. J., and Petzow, G., Science of Ceramics 9, 725 (1980).Google Scholar
28. Kim, D. J. and Tien, T. Y., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 74, 3061 (1991).Google Scholar
29. Naguib, H. and Kelly, R., Radiat. Eff. 25, 1 (1975).Google Scholar
30. Fleischer, E., Norton, M., Zaleski, M., Hertl, W., and Carter, C., J. Mater. Res. 6, 1905 (1991); N. Yu, K. Sickafus, P. Kodali, and M. Nastasi, J, Nucl. Mater. 244, 266 (1997); K. E. Sickafus, Hj. Matzke, K. Yasuda, P. Chodak III, R. A. Verrall, P. G. Lucuta, H. R. Andrews, A. Turos, R. Fronknecht, and N. P. Baker, Nucl. Instru. Meth. Phys. Res. B 141, 358 (1998); C. Degueldre and J.-M. Paratte, Nucl. Tech. 123, 21 (1997); C. Degueldre, O. Heimgartner, G. Ledergerber, N. Sasajima, K. Hojou, T. Muromura, L. Wang, W. Gong, and R. Ewing, Mat. Res. Soc. Proc. Symp. 439, 625 (1997).Google Scholar
31. Yu, N., Devanathan, R., Sickafus, K. E., and Nastasi, M., J. Mater. Res. 12, 1766 (1997).Google Scholar
32. Fleischer, E., Norton, M., Zaleski, M., Hertl, W., and Carter, C., J. Mater. Res. 6, 1905 (1991).Google Scholar
33. Degueldre, C., Heimgartner, O., Ledergerber, G., Sasajima, N., Hojou, K., Muromura, T., Wang, L., Gong, W., and Ewing, R., Mat. Res. Soc. Proc. Symp. 439, 625 (1997).Google Scholar
34. Weber, W. J., Ewing, R. C., Angell, C. A., Arnold, G. W., Cormack, A. N., Delaye, J. M., Griscom, D. L., Hobbs, L. W., Navrotsky, A., Price, D. L., Stoneham, A. M., and Weinberg, M. C., J. Mater. Res. 12, 1946 (1997).Google Scholar