Cerium as a Surrogate in the Plutonium Immobilized Form

Conference · Fri Jun 15 04:00:00 EDT 2001

OSTI ID:782043

Marra, J C

The Department of Energy (DOE) plans to immobilize a portion of the excess weapons useable plutonium in a ceramic form for final geologic disposal. The proposed immobilization form is a titanate based ceramic consisting primarily of a pyrochlore phase with lesser amounts of brannerite, rutile, zirconolite, vitreous phases and/or other minor phases depending on the impurities present in the feed. The ceramic formulation is cold-pressed and then densified via a reactive sintering process. Cerium has been used as a surrogate for plutonium to facilitate formulation development and process testing. The use of cerium vs. plutonium results in differences in behavior during sintering of the ceramic form. The phase development progression and final phase assemblage is different when cerium is substituted for the actinides in the form. However, the physical behavior of cerium oxide powder and the formation of a pyrochlore-rich ceramic of similar density to the actinide-bearing material make cerium an adequate surrogate for formulation and process development studies.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-96SR18500
• OSTI ID: 782043
• Report Number(s): WSRC-MS-2001-00007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BRANNERITE
CERIUM
CERIUM OXIDES
PHASE STUDIES
PLUTONIUM
PYROCHLORE
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
SIMULATION
SINTERING
WASTE FORMS