Rock-welding materials development for deep borehole nuclear waste disposal
Abstract
We report that various versions of deep borehole nuclear waste disposal have been proposed in the past in which effective sealing of a borehole after waste emplacement is generally required. In a high temperature disposal mode, the sealing function will be fulfilled by melting the ambient granitic rock with waste decay heat or an external heating source, creating a melt that will encapsulate waste containers or plug a portion of the borehole above a stack of the containers. However, there are certain drawbacks associated with natural materials, such as high melting temperatures, inefficient consolidation, slow crystallization kinetics, the resulting sealing materials generally being porous with low mechanical strength, insufficient adhesion to waste container surface, and lack of flexibility for engineering controls. In this study, we showed that natural granitic materials can be purposefully engineered through chemical modifications to enhance the sealing capability of the materials for deep borehole disposal. The present work systematically explores the effect of chemical modification and crystallinity (amorphous vs. crystalline) on the melting and crystallization processes of a granitic rock system. The approach can be applied to modify granites excavated from different geological sites. Several engineered granitic materials have been explored which possess significantly lower processingmore »
- Authors:
-
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1483963
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-2015-9999J
Journal ID: ISSN 0254-0584; 608265
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000; NA0003525
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Materials Chemistry and Physics
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 221; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0254-0584
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; Amorphous; Nuclear waste materials; Kinetics
Citation Formats
Yang, Pin, Wang, Yifeng, Rodriguez, Mark A., and Brady, Patrick V. Rock-welding materials development for deep borehole nuclear waste disposal. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.matchemphys.2018.09.023.
Yang, Pin, Wang, Yifeng, Rodriguez, Mark A., & Brady, Patrick V. Rock-welding materials development for deep borehole nuclear waste disposal. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2018.09.023
Yang, Pin, Wang, Yifeng, Rodriguez, Mark A., and Brady, Patrick V. Fri .
"Rock-welding materials development for deep borehole nuclear waste disposal". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2018.09.023. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1483963.
@article{osti_1483963,
title = {Rock-welding materials development for deep borehole nuclear waste disposal},
author = {Yang, Pin and Wang, Yifeng and Rodriguez, Mark A. and Brady, Patrick V.},
abstractNote = {We report that various versions of deep borehole nuclear waste disposal have been proposed in the past in which effective sealing of a borehole after waste emplacement is generally required. In a high temperature disposal mode, the sealing function will be fulfilled by melting the ambient granitic rock with waste decay heat or an external heating source, creating a melt that will encapsulate waste containers or plug a portion of the borehole above a stack of the containers. However, there are certain drawbacks associated with natural materials, such as high melting temperatures, inefficient consolidation, slow crystallization kinetics, the resulting sealing materials generally being porous with low mechanical strength, insufficient adhesion to waste container surface, and lack of flexibility for engineering controls. In this study, we showed that natural granitic materials can be purposefully engineered through chemical modifications to enhance the sealing capability of the materials for deep borehole disposal. The present work systematically explores the effect of chemical modification and crystallinity (amorphous vs. crystalline) on the melting and crystallization processes of a granitic rock system. The approach can be applied to modify granites excavated from different geological sites. Several engineered granitic materials have been explored which possess significantly lower processing and densification temperatures than natural granites. Finally, those new materials consolidate more efficiently by viscous flow and accelerated recrystallization without compromising their mechanical integrity and properties.},
doi = {10.1016/j.matchemphys.2018.09.023},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1483963},
journal = {Materials Chemistry and Physics},
issn = {0254-0584},
number = C,
volume = 221,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {9}
}
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