A justification for the use of data from accelerated leach tests of glass
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)
A case is made for the use of short-term laboratory data in making predictions on the likelihood of significant colloid formation in supersaturated leachates of glass, under long-term repository conditions, using {open_quotes}accelerated tests{close_quotes} with a large ratio of the surface area of the glass to the leachate volume. In the repository conditions in which colloids can form, long-term leaching may be a kinetically-controlled process that involves the continuous formation of colloids. If this kinetic process dominates, it could lead to a significant increase in the predicted rates of radionuclide release. The question is whether or not colloids may form after prolonged times; the delayed formation would make it difficult to use short-term laboratory test results to represent (or predict) the long-term and cumulative effects of radionuclides. In this work, the pertinent long-term kinetic processes are identified in part. Classical nucleation theory for particle formation, as a potential condensation mechanism for colloid formation, is applied to explain pertinent experimental data on colloid formation. The classical theory, which is justified for this discussion, indicates that as supersaturation of a leachate is decreased, the nucleation rate decreases most significantly, while the incubation time increases at a small rate. As a result of this decreased nucleation rate, the significance of colloids tends to vanish, and usefulness of data from {open_quotes}accelerated{close_quotes} laboratory tests may be applicable to long-term behavior.
- OSTI ID:
- 62248
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-921101-Vol.294; TRN: 95:002922-0064
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 16. Materials Research Society (MRS) fall meeting, Boston, MA (United States), 30 Nov - 5 Dec 1992; Other Information: PBD: 1993; Related Information: Is Part Of Scientific basis for nuclear waste management XVI; Interrante, C.G. [ed.] [Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)]; Pabalan, R.T. [ed.] [Southwest Research Inst., San Antonio, TX (United States)]; PB: 959 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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