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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Durability of a fluoride-containing low-level mixed waste glass: Effect of pH

Conference ·
OSTI ID:39182
; ;  [1]
  1. Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC (United States)
Pit wastes from the Fernald site are high in fluorine, calcium, and magnesium and contain significant amounts of heavy metals and radionuclides. We have successfully developed high-waste loading glass compositions for blends of these wastes and demonstrated their processability. Over 60 of these glasses have been subjected to leach testing using both the EPA TCLP and the high-level nuclear waste glass PCT procedures. These glasses pass the TCLP test and perform better than the SRL-EA benchmark glass on the PCT. We have examined the correlation between the results from these two tests by varying the pH in the range of 4 to 12 for both tests. Under presaturation conditions, for both the high S/V ratio/high temperature test (PCT) and the low S/V ratio/low temperature test (TCLP), the leachate concentrations decrease with increasing pH for major glass components. However, under saturation conditions, the leachate concentration shows an irregular behavior with respect to pH.
OSTI ID:
39182
Report Number(s):
CONF-940416--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English