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Characterization of glassy materials for immobilization of radioactive waste with a high iron oxide content

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Abstract

The influence of the content of oxides in the simulated high-level wastes on the phase composition, the structure, and the water resistance of borosilicate-based glassy materials for immobilization is investigated. An increase in the waste oxide content from 45 to 65 wt % leads to an increase in the fraction of the crystalline phase of the magnetite-type spinel from 3–5 to 20–22 vol %. The glassy materials are characterized by a low leaching rate of the main waste components in water. A considerable increase in the leaching rate of sodium ions and, to a lesser extent, aluminum and uranium ions is observed for the glassy materials containing waste oxides at a content of 55 wt % and more due to the depolymerization of the structural glass network. Under the same conditions, the leaching rate of iron does not increase noticeably because of the high resistance of the iron-containing spinel to water.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Unitary Enterprise of the City of Moscow—United Ecology, Technology, and Research Center on RAW Conditioning and Environmental Protection (SUE SIA “Radon”), Sed’moi Rostovskii per. 2/14, Moscow, 119121, Russia

    S. V. Stefanovsky

  2. Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry (IGEM), Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyi per. 35, Moscow, 109017, Russia

    B. S. Nikonov

  3. Savannah River National Laboratory, Savannah River Site Building 773-42A, Aiken, SC, 29808, USA

    J. C. Marra

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  1. S. V. Stefanovsky
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  2. B. S. Nikonov
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  3. J. C. Marra
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Correspondence to S. V. Stefanovsky.

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Original Russian Text © S.V. Stefanovsky, B.S. Nikonov, J.C. Marra, 2008, published in Fizika i Khimiya Stekla.

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Stefanovsky, S.V., Nikonov, B.S. & Marra, J.C. Characterization of glassy materials for immobilization of radioactive waste with a high iron oxide content. Glass Phys Chem 34, 292–299 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1087659608030097

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