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Valence state and speciation of uranium ions in borosilicate glasses with a high iron and aluminum content

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Abstract

The valence state and the local environment of uranium ions in borosilicate glasses intended for immobilizing high-level wastes with high concentrations of iron and aluminum ions are investigated using X-ray absorption (XANES, EXAFS) spectroscopy. It is demonstrated that, in glasses predominantly containing iron oxides, at least 80% of the total uranium exists in a hexavalent form as uranyl ions. In high-alumina glasses, uranium is in hexavalent and pentavalent states; in this case, the fraction of the latter form increases with an increase of the uranium concentration and its local environment is similar to the configuration of an axially distorted tetrahedron.

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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. Shubnikov Institute of Crystallography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninskii pr. 59, Moscow, 119333, Russia

    A. A. Shiryaev

  3. Russian Research Center “Kurchatov Institute,”, pl. Kurchatova 1, Moscow, 123182, Russia

    J. V. Zubavitchus & A. A. Veligjanin

  4. 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. A. A. Shiryaev
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  3. J. V. Zubavitchus
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  4. A. A. Veligjanin
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  5. J. C. Marra
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Correspondence to S. V. Stefanovsky.

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Original Russian Text © S.V. Stefanovsky, A.A. Shiryaev, J.V. Zubavitchus, A.A. Veligjanin, J.C. Marra, 2009, published in Fizika i Khimiya Stekla.

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Stefanovsky, S.V., Shiryaev, A.A., Zubavitchus, J.V. et al. Valence state and speciation of uranium ions in borosilicate glasses with a high iron and aluminum content. Glass Phys Chem 35, 141–148 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1087659609020035

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1087659609020035

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