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Investigations on SYNROC mineralogy. Progress report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5516706· OSTI ID:5516706

Progress reports are presented for the following projects: (1) factors influencing the leaching performance of hollandiate; (2) incorporation of uranium and rare earths into zirconolite; (3) reconnaissance studies of the stability relations of Ca-Ti-Al phases in SYNROC C formulations; (4) immobilization of highly aluminous sludges; (5) SYNROC D formulations produced by sintering in air; (6) crystallization behavior of interstitial glass in SYNROC D formulations. Some of the highlights are: (1) leaching performance of all hollandites irrespective of preparation technique, can be improved by hot-pressing under specific controlled redox conditions, below Ni-NiO; (2) there is no satisfactory crystal-chemical reason why the leaching performance of Ti/sup 3 +/-bearing hollandite should be superior to that of Al/sup 3 +/ hollandite; (3) experiments have shown that the zirconolite lattice can accept up to 30% rare earths (Sm/sub 2/O/sub 3/) before becoming destabilized in favor of pyrochlore or a related f.c.c. structure; (4) SYNROC zirconolites will therefore be well below their saturation limits in rare earths and trivalent actinides; (5) experiments have established that the Ca-Ti-Al phase (CTA) is compatible with perovskite, hollandite and zirconolite; (6) magnetoplumbite-type phases coexists with hollandite, perovskite, zirconolite and Fe-bearing pseudobrookite, but do not coexist with the CTA phase CaTi/sub 3/Al/sub 8/O/sub 19/; (7) experiments demonstrated that it is not possible to convert highly aluminous sludges to a waste form comprising zirconolite, perovskite, spinel and nepheline plus corundum, by adding appropriate minimum amounts of the inert SYNROC additives (CaO, TiO/sub 2/, ZrO/sub 2/, SiO/sub 2/); (8) sintering of SYNROC D in air at temperatures just above the solidus (1200 to 1250/sup 0/C) produced a dense compact ceramic, but the optimum SYNROC-D mineralogy was not produced. (ATT)

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
5516706
Report Number(s):
UCRL-15436; ON: DE82011072
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English