ABSTRACTWe are characterizing the corrosion behavior of the radioactive glass that
was made with sludge from Tank 51 at the Defense Waste Processing Facility
(DWPF) and a nonradioactive glass having the same composition, except for
the absence of radionuclides. Static dissolution tests are being conducted
in a tuff groundwater solution at glass surface area/solution volume ratios
(S/V) of 2000 and 20,000 m−1. These tests are being conducted to
assess the relationship between the behavior of this glass in a 7-day
Product Consistency Test and in long-term tests, to assess the effects of
radionuclides on the glass corrosion behavior, and to measure the
disposition of radionuclides that are released as the radioactive glass
corrodes. The radioactive glass reacts slower than the nonradioactive glass
through the longest test durations completed to date, which are 140 days for
tests at 2000 m−1 and about 400 days for tests at 20,000
m−1. This is probably because radiolysis results in lower
solution pH values being maintained in tests with the radioactive glass.
Rate-affecting alteration phases that had formed within one year in tests
with other glasses having compositions similar to the Tank 51 glass have not
yet formed in tests with either glass.
Long-Term Corrosion Behavior of AZ80 Magnesium Alloy along Different Crystallographic Orientations in Simulated Body Fluid