Waste consolidated titanate

The consolidated titanate waste pellets are similar in appearance to their glass counterparts, i.e., both are dense, black and apparently homogeneous. Microscopic analyses, however, reveal important differences between these two waste forms. While little definitive work has been done with glassy waste forms, it is apparent that several readily soluble oxide particulates of various nuclides are simply encapsulated in the glass matrix. The titanate waste form has undergone extensive analyses which includes optical microscopy, x-ray, scanning electron microscopy, microprobe, and transmission electron microscopy (l ) The samples of titanate examined were prepared by pressure sintering and consisted of material from a fully loaded titanate column. Zeolite and silicon additions were also present in the samples. 

During development, evaluation of the consolidated materials was based primarily on two criteria, leachability and the concentration factor, i.e., the concentration of waste oxides on a volume basis. The concentration factor is directly affected by the residual porosity in a consolidated waste as well as by the dilution caused by the addition of consolidation aids. This factor can be as high as 1.2 g/cm3 for a fully dense ( 5 g/cm ) titanate waste prepared from the projected Barnwell plant solution composition. The factor is slightly lower for a titanate waste containing silicon and zeolite additions, which has a typical density of U.2 g/cm3. The leachability was determined by an "instantaneous leach test developed for fast, comparative evaluations of materials, the details of which are described elsewhere (l6). 

The use of ion exchange resins and natural or synthetic inorganic exchange materials in the nuclear industry is well documented ( ). In the waste solidification application, the titanates or niobates offer no unique sorption properties. They do, however, provide a relatively high overall sorption capacity for a variety of nuclides in materials which can be converted into a stable ceramic host for the sorbed ions. After the sorption process, the column bed must be consolidated to reduce surface area. The project emphasis was directed toward a stable waste form and a considerable effort was devoted to producing and characterizing a highly dense form with favorable physical, chemical and thermal properties (l ). 

---