The effects of accelerated gamma and alpha irradiation experiments on cement grouts alone and grouts containing simulated combustible plutonium contaminated material (PCM) at a number of dose rates and under various environmental and confinement conditions are considered. Cracking and spallation can occur over a wide range of water/cement ratios at a high dose rate of 2.8 Gys-1 for grouts based on blast furnace slag compositions. Grouts based on pulverised fuel ash do not show any signs of spallationand cracking. One possible reason for this is the accumulation of radiolytic gases to high pressures in pores in the cement. It has been demonstrated that under some circumstances, at the Laboratory scale, PCM waste form can swell sufficiently to rupture its container and may disintegrate.
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