Simulated high-level waste-basalt interaction experiments. First interim progress report

Abstract

Reconnaissance experiments have shown that waste/basalt interactions are of real importance in understanding all aspects of total containment of radionuclides in a basalt repository. It has been shown that the reprocessed waste forms, calcine and glass, are relatively more reactive than the more crystalline waste forms, spent unreprocessed fuel (SURF) and supercalcine. These experiments have established the direction of future research. The remainder of the program will be concerned with longer-duration and more-detailed experiments whose emphasis will be on understanding the mechanisms of reaction. Long-duration and in-depth experiments are being initiated to establish kinetic relationships and get a better feel as to whether or not we are approaching equilibrium in our shorter-duration reconnaissance experiments. In some cases, especially at higher temperatures, it appears that we are approaching a steady-state wherein products are no longer changing. This, however, might be a metastable state. Experiments with cesium compounds thought to be present in SURF (Cs/sub 2/MoO/sub 4/), a simple cesium source (CsOH), labradorite, and ground water have shown that pollucite forms and, as a result, fixes 86 to 99% of the cesium (depending upon the amount of basalt present.

Keywords

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: