Corrosion Behavior and Microstructure Influence of Glass-Ceramic Nuclear Waste Forms
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA.
Glass ceramic waste forms present a potentially viable technology for the long term immobilization and disposal of liquid nuclear wastes. Through control of chemistry during fabrication, such waste forms can have designed secondary crystalline phases within a borosilicate glass matrix. In this work, a glass ceramic containing powellite and oxyapatite secondary phases was tested for its corrosion properties in dilute conditions using single pass flow through testing (SPFT). Three glass ceramic samples were prepared using different cooling rates to produce samples with varying microstructure sizes. In testing at 90 °C in buffered pH 7 and pH 9 solutions, it was found that increasing pH and decreasing microstructure size (resulting from rapid cooling during fabrication) both led to a reduction in overall corrosion rate. The phases of the glass ceramic were found, using a combination of solutions analysis, SEM and AFM, to corrode preferably in the order of powellite > bulk glass matrix > oxyapatite.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1398165
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-121385; 49141; AF5805020
- Journal Information:
- Corrosion, Journal Name: Corrosion Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 73; ISSN 0010-9312
- Publisher:
- NACE International
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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