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Rapid Vitrification of Uranium Tailings Via Microwave Sintering: Mechanism and Chemical Durability

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The safe treatment of radionuclide-contaminated soil in uranium tailings is of critical importance. In this work, neodymium- and cerium-contaminated soil in uranium tailings were successfully immobilized via microwave sintering to form glasses with the addition of Na2CO3. The phase evolution and chemical durability of the as-prepared vitrified forms were systematically investigated using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The results indicated that Nd and Ce could be fixed in glass structures, and the ultimate solid solubility of Nd and Ce reached 15 and 5 wt.%, respectively, with 20 wt.% Na2CO3 added. These samples were sintered at 1200°C for 40 min, and the solidified samples exhibited homogeneous elemental distribution. Moreover, the sintered matrices exhibited excellent chemical durability. The normalized leaching rates of Ce and Nd after 42 days were maintained at low values (~ 10 – 6 – 10–7 g ∙ m– 2 ∙ day–1).

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Acknowledgment

We thank Suzanne Adam, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Editing China (www.liwenbianji.cn/ac), for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Research and Development Program in key areas of Hunan Province (No. 2019SK2011), the Hunan Provincial Innovation Foundation for Postgraduates (No. CX20190711), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11875164), the National Defense Military Industry Project of China (No. JSZL2019403C001 and No. JSZL2017403B008), “The Thirteenth Five-Year Plan” Basic Technological Research Project (No. JSZL2018403B001), the Evaluation of Radioactive Effect of Soil Remediation in Mining and Metallurgy (No. JD201924), the Innovation Leading Plan of Hunan Province (No. 2020SK2024), and the Outstanding Youth Project of Hunan Province (No. 18B266).

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Author notes

  1. Min Chen and Keyou Shi contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resource Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, Hunan, 421001, PR China

    Min Chen, Keyou Shi, Qiucai Zhang, Shoufu Yu, Jiawei Li, Zengming Tang, Ailian Zhu, Wei Wei, Min Fu, Xiangyang Li, Yupeng Xie & Yong Liu

  2. Decommissioning Engineering Technology Research Center of Hunan Province Uranium Tailings Reservoir, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, PR China

    Xiangyang Li, Yupeng Xie & Yong Liu

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  1. Min Chen
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Correspondence to Yupeng Xie.

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Abstract published in Steklo i Keramika, No. 12, pp. 41 – 42, December, 2021.

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Chen, M., Shi, K., Zhang, Q. et al. Rapid Vitrification of Uranium Tailings Via Microwave Sintering: Mechanism and Chemical Durability. Glass Ceram 78, 497–505 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10717-022-00440-1

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