The reaction of synthetic nuclear waste glass in steam and hydrothermal solution

Book · Mon Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:138169

Ebert, W L; Bates, J K ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)

The US Department of Energy is studying the feasibility of locating a repository for the isolation of high-level nuclear waste and spent reactor fuel in the volcanic tuff beds of Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Experiments are being performed in many laboratories to project the behavior of various waste forms in the tuff environment over the thousands of years the waste must be isolated from the biosphere. Glass monoliths of the WVCM 44, WVCM 50, SRL 165, and SRL 202 compositions were reacted in steam and in hydrothermal liquid at 200C. The glass reaction resulted in the formation of leached surface layers in both environments. The reaction in steam proceeds at a very low rate until precipitates form, after which the glass reaction proceeds at a greater rate. Precipitates were formed on all glass types reacted in steam. The assemblage of phases formed was unique to each glass type, but several precipitates were common to all glasses, including analcime, gyrolite, and weeksite. Reaction in steam occurs in a thin layer of condensed water which becomes saturated with respect to the observed phases after only a few days of reaction. The reaction in steam is accelerated relative to reaction in hydrothermal liquid in the sense that secondary phases form after a shorter reaction time, that is, after less glass has reacted, because of the smaller effective leachant volume present in the steam environment. A knowledge of the secondary phases which form and their influence on the glass reaction rate is crucial to the modeling effort of the repository program.

• Research Organization: Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 138169
• Report Number(s): CONF-891129--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ACCURACY
ANALCIME
ANL
APATITES
BIOSPHERE
CONTAINMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GLASS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
HYDRATION
HYDROLOGY
LEACHATES
LEACHING
LITHIUM PHOSPHATES
ORTHOCLASE
PRECIPITATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
REACTION KINETICS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SPENT FUELS
STEAM
SURFACE AREA
TUFF
US DOE
VITRIFICATION
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
Yucca Mountain Project
ZEOLITES