Alkali-slag cements for the immobilization of radioactive wastes
- Wastewater Technology Centre, Burlington, Ontario (Canada)
- Univ. of Calgary, Alberta (Canada). Dept. of Civil Engineering
Alkali-slag cements consist of glassy slag and an alkaline activator and can show both higher early and later strengths than Type III Portland cement, if a proper alkaline activator is used. An examination of microstructure of hardened alkali-slag cement pastes with the help of XRD and SEM with EDAX shows that the main hydration product is C-S-H (B) with low C/S ratio and no crystalline substances exist such as Ca(OH){sub 2}, Al (OH){sub 3} and sulphoaluminates. Mercury intrusion tests indicate that hardened alkali-slag cement pastes have a lower porosity than ordinary Portland cement, and contain mainly gel pores. The fine pore structure of hardened alkali-slag cement pastes will restrict the ingress of deleterious substances and the leaching of harmful species such as radionuclides. The leachability of Cs{sup + } from hardened alkali-slag cement pastes is only half of that from hardened Portland cement. From all these aspects, it is concluded that alkali-slag cements are a better solidification matrix than Portland cement for radioactive wastes.
- OSTI ID:
- 549380
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-931119--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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