Properties of Plutonium-Containing Colloids Released from Glass-Bonded Sodalite Nuclear Waste Form
In glass-bonded sodalite, which is the ceramic waste form (CWF) to immobilize radioactive electrorefiner salt from spent metallic reactor fuel, uranium and plutonium are found as 20-50 nm (U,Pu)O{sub 2} particles encapsulated in glass near glass-sodalite phase boundaries. In order to determine whether the (U,Pu)O{sub 2} affects the durability of the CWF, and to determine release behavior of uranium and plutonium during CWF corrosion, tests were conducted to measure the release of matrix and radioactive elements from crushed CWF samples into water and the properties of released plutonium. Released colloids have been characterized by sequential filtration of test solutions followed by elemental analysis, dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. This paper reports the composition, size, and agglomeration of these colloids. Significant amounts of colloidal, amorphous aluminosilicates and smaller amounts of colloidal crystalline (U,Pu)O{sub 2} were identified in test solutions. The normalized releases of uranium and plutonium were significantly less than the normalized releases of matrix elements.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 1008881
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Boston, MA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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Cerium, uranium, and plutonium behavior in glass-bonded sodalite, a ceramic nuclear waste form.
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Related Subjects
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
AGGLOMERATION
CERAMICS
COLLOIDS
CORROSION
FILTRATION
GLASS
LIGHT SCATTERING
MANAGEMENT
MATRIX ELEMENTS
NUCLEAR FUELS
PLUTONIUM
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
URANIUM
WASTE FORMS
WATER