Ceramic waste form

Esh, D. W., Goff, K. M., Hirsche, K. T., Battisti, T. J., Simpson, M. F., Johnson, S. G. Bateman, K. J. 1999. Development of a ceramic waste form for high level waste disposal. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 556, 107-113. 

Frank, S. M., Barber, T. L. et al. 2002. Alpha-decay radiation damage study of a glass-bonded sodalite ceramic waste form. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 713, 487-494. 

Pereira, C., Hash, M. C., Lewis, M. A., Richmann, M. K. Basco, J. 1999. Incorporation of radionuclides from the electrometallurgical treatment of spent fuel into a ceramic waste form. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 556, 115-120. 

Sinkler, W., O Holleran, T. P., Frank, S. M., Richmann, M. K. Johnson, S. G. 2000. Characterization of glass-bonded ceramic waste form loaded with U and Pu. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 608, 423-430. 

Table 1. A selection of crystalline ceramic waste forms, applications, and mineralogy...

ICENHOWER, J. P., STRACHAN, D. M., LlNDBERG, M. M., Rodriquez, E. A. Steele, J. L. 2003. Dissolution Kinetics of Titanate-Based Ceramic Waste Forms Results from Single-Pass Flow Tests on Radiation Damaged Specimens. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Report No. PNNL-14252. 

Kamizono, H., Hayakawa, I. Muraoka, S. 1991. Durability of zirconium-containing ceramic waste forms in water. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 74, 863-864. 

Solomah, A. G. Matzke, Hj. 1989. Leaching studies of synroc crystalline ceramic waste forms. In Lutze, W. Ewing, R. C. (eds) Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XII. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 127, 241-248. 

The use of inorganic ion exchangers to solidify liquid radioactive waste followed by pressure sintering to produce a ceramic waste form appears to be a viable alternative to calcina-tion/vitrification processes. Both the process and waste form are relatively insensitive to changes in the composition of the waste feed. The stability of the ceramic waste form has been shown to be superior to vitrified wastes in leaching studies at elevated temperatures. Further studies on the effects of radiation and associated transmutation and the influence of temperature regimes associated with potential geologic repositories are needed for a more definitive comparison of crystalline and amorphous waste forms. 

The samples were stored for 3 weeks for curing. Each sample was then crushed and was subjected to the TCLP test. The TCLP test results on both the waste stream and the treated CBPC waste form are given in Table 16.6. The results on the untreated waste streams show that the leaching levels far exceed the regulatory limits. The results for the waste forms, on the other hand, are an order of magnitude below the EPA limit. These results indicate superior stabilization of Hg in the phosphate ceramic waste forms coupled with sulfide immobilization. 

Five-gallon size waste forms were fabricated. Typical waste loading was 35-40 wt%. A small amount of potassium sulfide was added to the Ceramicrete binder mixture for stabilization of Hg, and dense and hard ceramic waste forms were produced. Just before solidification, TCLP results were obtained on small aliquots of the mixing slurry that was separated and allowed to set. Mercury levels in the leachate were found to be 0.05 /rg/1, well below the LfTS limit of 0.025 mg/1. The entire waste was treated, removed from the inventory, and sent to the Radioactive Waste Management Complex at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory for disposal. 

Glass-ceramics combine the properties of vitreous and ceramic waste forms. The content of ciystalline phases may be varied from 20 to 90 vol.%. These... 

Dacheux N, Clavier N, Le Coustumer P, Podor R (in press) Immobilization of tetravalent actinides in the TPD structrrre. Proc 10th Inti Ceramics Congress. Vincenzini P (ed) Techna Publishers, Florence, Italy Davis DD, Vance ER, McCarthy GJ (1981) Crystal chemistry and phase relations in the synthetic miner s of ceramic waste forms. II. Studies of uranirrm-containing monazites. In Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, vol. 3. Moore JG (ed) Plentrm Press, New York, p 197-200 Day DE, Wu Z, Ray CS, Hrma P (1998) Chemically durable iron phosphate glass waste forms. J Non-Crystalline Solids 241 1-12... 

Ewing RC, Weber WJ, Lutze W (1995a) Crystalline ceramics waste forms for the disposal of weapons plutonium. In Disposal of Weapon Plutonium Approaches and Prospects. Merz ER, Walter CE (eds) Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrechf The Netherlands, p 65-83 Ewing RC, Weber WJ, Chnard FW, Jr (1995b) Radiation effects in nuclear waste forms for high-level radioactive waste. Progress Nucl Energy 29 63-112... 

The treatment of spent nuclear fuel by the IFR process results in two HLW forms ceramic and metal. The ceramic waste form stabilizes the active FPs (alkali, alkaline earth, and rare earths) and the metal waste consists of stainless steel cladding and, fuel matrix material... 

The ceramic waste form is a glass-bonded sodalite produced from the thermal conversion of zeolite. The salt is removed from the electrorefiner and initially ground to a powder. This powder is mixed with zeolite at 500 °C and is occluded into the zeolite structure. This salt-loaded zeolite is then mixed with glass frit and is transferred to a furnace where if is heated to 850 °C. During this process, the zeolite is converted to sodalite and a ceramic is formed (Goff et al., 2005 Marsden et al., 2005). 

Simpson, M.F. et al. 2001. A description of the ceramic waste form production process from the demonstration phase of the electrometallurgical treatment of EBR-II spent fuel. Nuclear Technology 134(3) 263-377. 

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