Abstract
The reprocessing of irradiated fuel of nuclear power plants results in the formation of a great amount of radioactive wastes, including high-level radioactive wastes (HLW). Selection of suitable immobilizing materials is a key part of safe HLW management in the nuclear fuel cycle. The search for confinement matrices began in the 1950s with study of various glassy and crystalline materials containing silicates, phosphates, and titanates (Ewing and Lutze 1988). Only borosilicate and alumophosphate glasses are used for this purpose on an industrial scale (Hench et al. 1984; Vashman et al. 1997). These glasses are not capable of incorporating sufficient amounts of actinides (particularly, Pu) and have low resistance to chemical corrosion by water (Matzke and van Geel 1996; Laverov et al. 1997). Interaction of the vitreous matrices with underground waters will result in the formation of colloidal particles (Glass as a waste form ... 1996), which can carry actinides for very long distances. The glasses also easily crystallize on aging (Vashman et al. 1997), which significantly decreases stability of the waste forms due to appearance of various soluble phases, such as alkali and alkaline-earth silicates, phosphates, and molybdates.
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Livshits, T., Yudintsev, S. (2008). Natural and Synthetic Minerals — Matrices (Forms) for Actinide Waste Immobilization. In: Krivovichev, S.V. (eds) Minerals as Advanced Materials I. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77123-4_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-77123-4_25
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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