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Radioactive nuclear waste stabilization - Aspects of solid-state molecular engineering and applied geochemistryStabilization techniques for the storage of radioactive wastes are surveyed, with emphasis on immobilization in a primary barrier of synthetic rock. The composition, half-life, and thermal-emission characteristics of the wastes are shown to require thermally stable immobilization enduring at least 100,000 years. Glass materials are determined to be incapable of withstanding the expected conditions, average temperatures of 100-500 C for the first 100 years. The geological-time stability of crystalline materials, ceramics or synthetic rocks, is examined in detail by comparing their components with similar naturally occurring minerals, especially those containing the same radioactive elements. The high-temperature environment over the first 100 years is seen as stabilizing, since it can recrystallize radiation-induced metamicts. The synthetic-rock stabilization technique is found to be essentially feasible, and improvements are suggested, including the substitution of nepheline with freudenbergite and priderite for alkaline-waste stabilization, the maintenance of low oxygen fugacity, and the dilution of the synthetic-rock pellets into an inert medium.
Document ID
19830052260
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Haggerty, S. E.
(Massachusetts, University Amherst, MA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 11, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1983
Subject Category
Nuclear And High-Energy Physics
Accession Number
83A33478
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NGR-22-010-089
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF EAR-76-23787
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF EAR-78-02541
CONTRACT_GRANT: NSF EAR-78-02539
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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