Fundamental Thermodynamics of Actinide-Bearing Mineral Waste Forms - Final Report
The end of the Cold War raised the need for the technical community to be concerned with the disposition of excess nuclear weapon material. The plutonium will either be converted into mixed-oxide fuel for use in nuclear reactors or immobilized in glass or ceramic waste forms and placed in a repository. The stability and behavior of plutonium in the ceramic materials as well as the phase behavior and stability of the ceramic material in the environment is not well established. In order to provide technically sound solutions to these issues, thermodynamic data are essential in developing an understanding of the chemistry and phase equilibria of the actinide-bearing mineral waste form materials proposed as immobilization matrices. Mineral materials of interest include zircon, zirconolite, and pyrochlore. High temperature solution calorimetry is one of the most powerful techniques, sometimes the only technique, for providing the fundamental thermodynamic data needed to establish optimum material fabrication parameters, and more importantly understand and predict the behavior of the mineral materials in the environment. The purpose of this project is to experimentally determine the enthalpy of formation of actinide orthosilicates, the enthalpies of formation of actinide substituted zirconolite and pyrochlore, and develop an understanding of the bonding characteristics and stabilities of these materials.
- Research Organization:
- University of California at Davis, Davis, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG07-97ER45673
- OSTI ID:
- 781717
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/45673; Project Number: 60118; Project Number: 60118; TRN: US0300262
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Mar 2001
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Fundamental Thermodynamics of Actinide-Bearing Mineral Waste Forms
Fundamental thermodynamics of actinide-bearing mineral waste forms.
Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
ACTINIDES
CALORIMETRY
CERAMICS
MINERAL WASTES
MIXED OXIDE FUELS
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PLUTONIUM
PYROCHLORE
THERMODYNAMICS
WASTE FORMS
ZIRCON
ZIRCONOLITE
MIXED-OXIDE FUEL
CERAMIC MATERIAL
THERMODYNAMIC DATA
ACTINIDE-BEARING MINERAL WASTE
HIGH TEMPERATURE SOLUTION CALORIMETRY