scholarly journals Method for product performance evaluation of candidate waste forms for immobilization of high-level radioactive wastes. Interface working group on high-level waste form selection factors

1982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Not Given Author
Keyword(s):  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Radioactive Wastes ◽  
Product Performance ◽  
Waste Form ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Waste Forms ◽  
High Level ◽  
Selection Factors

Interim Waste Forms for High-Level Radioactive Wastes: Processing and Properties

1981 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Bandyopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Sodium Silicate ◽  
Water Solubility ◽  
Mechanical Stability ◽  
Solid Material ◽  
High Water ◽  
Radioactive Wastes ◽  
Waste Form ◽  
Waste Forms ◽  
High Level ◽  
Fused Salt

ABSTRACTSeveral simulated interim waste forms have been investigated in the laboratory to study their suitability for application in handling and transportation of high-level radioactive wastes to terminal processing sites. In the fused-salt/sludge option, the neutralized supernatant liquid and the precipitated sludge are treated simultaneously to form fused-salt cakes. Silicate-based options, in which sodium silicate or sodium silicate and Ca(OH)2 act as binders for the sludge, require prior separation of the sludge and the soluble radioactive constituents from the supernatant before the waste form can be prepared. The results from tests on simulated fused-salt waste forms indicated that the process simplicity of this option is partially offset by the high water solubility and hygroscopicity of the product, which would necessitate special precautions during transportation and storage. The most promising silicate-based option is the ambienttemperature silicate sludge process, in which the sludge is mixed with sodium silicate [and sometimes with Ca(OH)2] and subsequently exposed to a contrelled-humidity environment at room temperature to form a chemical bond. Solid material containing 75 wt % synthetic calcined sludge, prepared by this process, has sufficient physical, chemical, and mechanical stability for use as an interim waste form.

The Strategy of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre in the Area of High-Level Waste Form Compatibility Research

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Lemmens ◽  
Christelle Cachoir ◽  
Elie Valcke ◽  
Karine Ferrand ◽  
Marc Aertsens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Research ◽  
Waste Form ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
National Agency ◽  
Waste Forms ◽  
In Situ Experiments ◽  
High Level

The Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK•CEN) has a long-standing expertise in research concerning the compatibility of waste forms with the final disposal environment. For high level waste, most attention goes to two waste forms that are relevant for Belgium, namely (1) vitrified waste from the reprocessing of spent fuel, and (2) spent fuel as such, referring to the direct disposal scenario. The expertise lies especially in the study of the chemical interactions between the waste forms and the disposal environment. This is done by laboratory experiments, supported by modeling. The experiments vary from traditional leach tests, to more specific tests for the determination of particular parameters, and highly realistic experiments. This results in a description of the phenomena that are expected upon disposal of the waste forms, and in quantitative data that allow a conservative long-term prediction of the in situ life time of the waste form. The predictions are validated by in situ experiments in the underground research laboratory HADES. The final objective of these studies, is to estimate the contribution of the waste form to the overall safety of the disposal system, as part of the Safety and Feasibility Case, planned by the national agency ONDRAF/NIRAS. The recent change of the Belgian disposal concept from an engineered barrier system based on the use of bentonite clay to a system based on a concrete buffer has caused a reorientation of the research programme. The expertise in the area of clay-waste interaction will however be maintained, to develop experimental methodologies in collaboration with other countries, and as a potential support to the decision making in those countries where a clay based near field is still the reference. The paper explains the current R&D approach, and highlights some recent experimental set-ups available at SCK•CEN for this purpose, with some illustrating results.

Geopolymers as Candidates for the Immobilisation of Low- and Intermediate-Level Waste

2006 ◽  
Vol 985 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Vance ◽  
Eric Vance ◽  
Satoshi Kiyama ◽  
Zaynab Aly ◽  
Patrick Yee
Keyword(s):  
Amorphous Material ◽  
Intermediate Level ◽  
Waste Form ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Waste Forms ◽  
Phosphate Compound ◽  
Waste Loading ◽  
Saturation Effects ◽  
High Level ◽  
B Test

AbstractGeopolymers should be serious waste form candidates for intermediate level waste (ILW), insofar as they are more durable than Portland cement and can pass the PCT-B test for high-level waste. Thus an alkaline ILW could be considered to be satisfactorily immobilised in a geopolymer formulation. However a simulated Hanford tank waste was found to fail the PCT-B criterion even for a waste loading as low as 5 wt%, very probably due to the formation of a soluble sodium phosphate compound(s). This suggests that it could be worth developing a “mixed” GP waste form in which the amorphous material can immobilise cations and a zeolitic component to immobilise anions. The PCT -B test is demonstrably subject to significant saturation effects, especially for relatively soluble waste forms.

scholarly journals Spent Fuel as a Waste Form - Data Needs to Allow Long Term Performance Assessment Under Repository Disposal Conditions.

1986 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. M. Oversby
Keyword(s):  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Waste Form ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Detailed Knowledge ◽  
Spent Fuel ◽  
Expected Performance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Term Performance ◽  
Physical And Chemical ◽  
Waste Repositories

AbstractPerformance assessment calculations are required for high level waste repositories for a period of 10,000 years under NRC and EPA regulations. In addition, the Siting Guidelines (IOCFR960) require a comparison of sites following site characterization and prior to final site selection to be made over a 100,000 year period. In order to perform the required calculations, a detailed knowledge of the physical and chemical processes that affect waste form performance will be needed for each site. While bounding calculations might be sufficient to show compliance with the requirements of IOCFR60 and 40CFRI91, the site comparison for 100,000 years will need to be based on expected performance under site specific conditions. The only case where detailed knowledge of waste form characteristics in the repository would not be needed would be where radionuclide travel times to the accessible environment can be shown to exceed 100,000 years. This paper will review the factors that affect the release of radionuclides from spemt fuel under repository conditions, summarize our present state of knowledge, and suggest areas where more work is needed in order to support the performance assessment calculations.

Lessons Learned Siting and Successfully Processing U.S. DOE Radioactive Wastes Using a High Throughput Vitrification Process

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Prince ◽  
Bradley W. Bowan
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Volume Reduction ◽  
Waste Form ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Hanford Site ◽  
High Level ◽  
Low Activity ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Ceramic Melter

This paper describes actual experience applying a technology to achieve volume reduction while producing a stable waste form for low and intermediate level liquid (L/ILW) wastes, and the L/ILW fraction produced from pre-processing of high level wastes. The chief process addressed will be vitrification. The joule-heated ceramic melter vitrification process has been used successfully on a number of waste streams produced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This paper will address lessons learned in achieving dramatic improvements in process throughput, based on actual pilot and full-scale waste processing experience. Since 1991, Duratek, Inc., and its long-term research partner, the Vitreous State Laboratory of The Catholic University of America, have worked to continuously improve joule heated ceramic melter vitrification technology in support of waste stabilization and disposition in the United States. From 1993 to 1998, under contact to the DOE, the team designed, built, and operated a joule-heated melter (the DuraMelterTM) to process liquid mixed (hazardous/low activity) waste material at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina. This melter produced 1,000,000 kilograms of vitrified waste, achieving a volume reduction of approximately 70 percent and ultimately producing a waste form that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) delisted for its hazardous classification. The team built upon its SRS M Area experience to produce state-of-the-art melter technology that will be used at the DOE’s Hanford site in Richland, Washington. Since 1998, the DuraMelterTM has been the reference vitrification technology for processing both the high level waste (HLW) and low activity waste (LAW) fractions of liquid HLW waste from the U.S. DOE’s Hanford site. Process innovations have doubled the throughput and enhanced the ability to handle problem constituents in LAW. This paper provides lessons learned from the operation and testing of two facilities that provide the technology for a vitrification system that will be used in the stabilization of the low level fraction of Hanford’s high level tank wastes.

Performance of Borosilicate Glass High-Level Waste Forms in Disposal Systems

1986 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-139
Author(s):  
Edward J. Hennelly ◽  
E. I. Du Pont de Nemours
Keyword(s):  
Borosilicate Glass ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Waste Forms ◽  
High Level

Dose-Dependence of Pb-Ion Implantation Damage in Zirconolite, Hollandite, and Zircon

1981 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Headley ◽  
G. W. Arnold ◽  
C. J. M. Northrup
Keyword(s):  
Radiation Damage ◽  
Structural Damage ◽  
Accelerated Aging ◽  
Dose Dependence ◽  
High Level Waste ◽  
Long Term Stability ◽  
Waste Forms ◽  
Recent Approach ◽  
High Level

The long-term stability of nuclear waste forms is an important consideration in their selection for safe disposal of radioactive waste. Stability against long-term radiation damage is particularly difficult to assess by short-term laboratory experiments. Much of the displacement damage in high-level waste forms will be generated by heavy recoil nuclei emitted during the α-decay process of long-lived actinide elements. Hence, an accelerated aging test which reliably simulates the α-recoil damage accumulated during thousands of years of storage is desirable. One recent approach to this simulation is to implant the waste form with heavy Pb-ions.I- 6 If the validity of this approach is to be fully assessed, two important questions which have not yet been investigated must be answered.(1) Is the structural damage, including cumulative effects, similar for irradiation by Pb-ions and a-recoil nuclei in a given material? (2) Is the dose-dependence of the accumulated damage similar? The purpose of this investigation was to assess the extent of these similarities in selected materials. We utilized transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to characterize the radiation damage and measure its dose-dependence.

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