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Title: Crystallization Study of Rare Earth and Molybdenum Containing Nuclear Waste Glass Ceramics

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Ceramic Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.16406· OSTI ID:1497078
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [3];  [5]; ORCiD logo [5]
  1. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
  4. Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Paris Cedex (France)
  5. Warwick Univ., Coventry (United Kingdom)

A glass-ceramic waste form is being developed for immobilization of waste streams of alkali (A), alkaline-earth (AE), rare earth (RE), and transition metals generated by transuranic extraction for reprocessing used nuclear fuel. Benefits over an alkali borosilicate waste form are realized by the partitioning of the insoluble fission product fraction into a suite of crystalline phases through controlled cooling, including (AE,A,RE)MoO4 (powellite) and (RE,A,AE)10Si6O26 (oxyapatite). In this study, a simplified 8-oxide system (SiO2-Nd2O3-CaO-Na2O-B2O3-Al2O3-MoO3-ZrO2) was melted then soaked at various temperatures from 1450 to 1150°C and subsequently quenched, in order to obtain snapshots into the phase distribution at these temperatures. For these samples, small angle X-ray and neutron scattering, quantitative X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, 23Na nuclear magnetic resonance, Nd3+ visible absorption, and temperature dependent viscosity were characterized. In this composition, soak temperatures ~1250°C or below appear necessary to nucleate calcium molybdate phase (~10 – 20 nm in diameter). Further cooling produces oxyapatite and total crystallization increases with lower soak temperatures. Both Na and Nd enter the crystalline phases with lower temperature soak conditions. Slow cooling or long isothermal treatments ~975°C produces significantly higher crystal fractions.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; NE0008431
OSTI ID:
1497078
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1499073; OSTI ID: 1558457; OSTI ID: 1571521
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-122002
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 102, Issue 9; ISSN 0002-7820
Publisher:
American Ceramic SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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