Advanced Vitreous Wasteforms for Radioactive Salt Cake Waste Immobilisation

Salt cake radioactive waste is a remnant solid salt concentrate after deep evaporation of radioactive evaporator concentrate at WWER NPP’s. The traditional cementing of borate-containing liquid radioactive waste, to which the salt cake belongs, leads to a significant increase in the volume of the final product. This work describes borosilicate vitreous wasteforms developed to immobilize radioactive salt cake waste and comprises data on both glass synthesis and characterization. The composition of glass selected for the purpose of immobilisation of the salt cake radioactive waste allows to include up to 40 wt. % of the oxides contained in the salt cake and to reduce the volume of the final product by more than 2 times compared with the cement compound. The batches were melted in a cold crucible melter at 1200 °C. The normalized cesium leaching rate of the vitrified wasteform product was within range 3.0·10-5 – 3.7·10-6 g/(cm2·day).

Monitoring the solvation process and stability of Eu2+ in an ionic liquid by in situ luminescence analysis

Ionic liquids (ILs) offer the remarkable possibility of the direct synthesis of Eu2+-doped nanophosphors in solution, under atmospheric conditions, without the necessity of a high-temperature post-synthetic reduction from its trivalent oxidation state. This work uses for the first time in situ luminescence measurements for monitoring the solvation process of Eu2+ from the solid salt to the IL and its stability against oxidation under atmospheric conditions. Upon the addition of EuBr2 to 1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium tetrafluoroborate, the formation of the solvation shell is detected by the shift of the emission band at approximately 24 100 cm−1 assigned to the 5d→4f electronic transitions of Eu2+ within EuBr2 to approximately 22 000 cm−1, assigned to Eu2+ within BminBF4, tracking the time-dependent influence of the Eu2+ coordination environment on the crystal field splitting of its d orbitals. Even though the solubility of EuBr2 was demonstrated to be improved by reducing the concentration and increasing the temperature to 60°C, the performance of reactions at room temperature is recommended for future synthesis of Eu2+ materials in ILs due to the slight oxidation to Eu3+ observed upon heating.

Capillary disconnect during drying in model porous media at different wettability

We carried out drying studies on a 2.5D micromodel based on a thin section of a carbonate rock to investigate the impact of wettability on the capillary disconnect, the moment when liquid films de-pin from the external evaporating surface. While this is coincident with the transition to low evaporation rate (diffusion limited) for deionized-water, our experiments show, the corner wetting films persisted after the transition to low evaporation rate for both water-wet and mixed-wet micromodels for brine, as solid salt continued to build up at the external evaporating surface. Fully oil wet micromodels showed a drying rate transition coincident with de-pinning. Keywords: Capillary; Liquid films; Micromodel; Wettability; Crystallization

Ionic liquids in cross-coupling reactions: “liquid” solutions to a “solid” precipitation problem

To alleviate the problem of solid salt precipitation when using inorganic bases in cross-coupling reactions, basic anions were combined with the trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium ([P66614]+) cation to ensure an ionic liquid byproduct.

A miniaturized solid salt reverse electrodialysis battery: a durable and fully ionic power source

A convenient, miniaturized reverse electrodialysis battery to provide long-lasting and reliable ionic electricity is developed.

Effect of Prewetting Brines and Mixing on Ice-Melting Rate of Salt at Cold Temperatures: New Tracer Dilution Method

A novel test method has been developed to measure the ice-melting rate of deicers. The ice-melting rates of prewetted salt were determined by measuring the change in the concentration of chloride (Cl−) or magnesium or calcium cations (Mg2+ or Ca2+, respectively) in the ice melt as tracers. The method is substantially more precise than the SHRP H205.1 standard and has the further advantage of measuring ice-melting and salt dissolution rates simultaneously. Brines were preequilibrated with ice at −19.3°C (−2.7°F) and blended with solid salt to determine the effect of different prewetting brines on the ice-melting rate of the solid salt component only. The measured equilibrium ice-melting capacity of sodium chloride (NaCl) agreed well with the theoretical value calculated from the NaCl freezing point curve. Under a condition of no mixing, solid salt yielded 0.87% of its total available ice-melting capacity after 60 min when wetted with NaCl brine and 9.7% when wetted with calcium chloride (CaCl2) brine. Mixing raised the yield of ice melt to 27.1% and 50.5% after 60 min when wet with NaCl and CaCl2 brines, respectively. The CaCl2 brine was slightly more effective than the magnesium chloride (MgCl2) brine at enhancing the ice-melting rate of salt. The test method promises to be a useful tool for permitting a more precise optimization of prewetting brine composition, concentration, and brine-to-salt ratio at different temperatures. The method may also permit better determination of the cost-effectiveness of different prewetting strategies and provide deeper insights into the mechanism of chemical ice melting.