Most of the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel (SNF) around the world is destined for final disposal in deep-mined geological repositories. At the end of the fuel's useful life in a reactor, about 96% of the SNF is still UO 2. Thus, the behaviour of UO 2 in SNF must be understood and evaluated under the weathering conditions of geologic disposal, which extend to periods of hundreds of thousands of years. There is ample evidence from nature that many uranium deposits have experienced conditions for which the formation of coffinite, USiO 4 , has been favoured over uraninite, UO 2+x , during subsequent alteration events. Thus, coffinite is an important alteration product of the UO 2 in SNF. Here, we present the first evidence of the formation of coffinite on the surface of UO 2 at the time scale of laboratory experiments in a solution saturated with respect to amorphous silica at pH = 9, room temperature and under anoxic conditions. Uraninite, UO 2+x is the most common U 4+ mineral in nature followed by coffinite, USiO 4 , which is found as a primary phase or an alteration product in many uranium deposits. Coffinite, tetragonal, is isostructural with zircon (ZrSiO 4) and thorite (ThSiO 4); however, coffinite can contain some water either as H 2 O or OH groups 1. Altered uraninite and coffinite have been documented from Oklo, Gabon 2-5 , deposits in the Athabasca Basin 4,6,7 and Elliot Lake, Canada 8. Other examples include Jachymov, Czech Republic 9 or La Crouzille district, France 10. For many years, coffinite had gone unrecognized in most uranium deposits, particularly uranium roll-front deposits, as a distinct phase because of its fine grain size and intimate association with uraninite 5,6,11,12. The alteration of uraninite to coffinite is a key event for UO 2 in nature and UO 2 in spent fuel in a geologic repository. Coffinite, being a U 4+-silicate, is associated with reducing environments, with sulphides and organic matter 1 , where it likely precipitated from neutral to weakly alkaline fluids. Coffinite formation in sedimentary uranium deposits is associated with relatively low temperatures, 80-130 °C. A detailed investigation of meteoric roll-front deposits in the Athabasca basin, suggest an estimated temperature of coffinite precipitation in the uranium front of no greater than 50 °C 13. Even though laboratory experiments report coffinite formation at 150-250 °C 14,15 , it appears that these elevated temperatures are not required to form coffinite in nature. Although coffinite is abundant in uranium ore deposits, its synthesis has been a major challenge since its initial description as a mineral in 1955 16. A number of investigators have sought to obtain pure synthetic coffinite, but only a few have succeeded 14,15,17-21. Synthetic coffinite was always obtained under hydrothermal conditions. Systematically, the samples obtained were a mixture of phases, mainly composed of fine grains of USiO 4 , nanoparticles of UO 2 and amorphous SiO 2. All of these attempts to synthesize coffinite indicate that there i...

How does a social movement sound? And how does the sonic memory of a Feminist Strike rumble in the heads of women and LGTBQI+ activists who occupied the streets on March 8th last year? The present article is an attempt to build up a story of the feminist radio initiative Radio 8M, which a group of media activists from the autonomous feminist movement in Madrid set up to cover live the events of the second Feminist Strike that took place on 8 March 2019. The March 8th Commission is a platform that brings together independent feminist activists to organise International Women's Day activities and demonstrations. It works at a regional level with different general assemblies and working groups that coordinate at a country level through national meetings. Although this Commission has been gathering for decades and has had a wide repertoire of contention and has made several advancements, the actions called for in the past two years (2018 and 2019) grew exponentially in number and reach. What was innovative about them? On the one hand, the Commission called for a Feminist Strike in four fields of action that would draw attention to structural violence and inequalities. This included a labour strike, a caring strike, an educational strike and a consumption strike. This action, which was inspired by the strike carried out by Icelandic women in the 1970s, was so disruptive that every actor in the public sphere-the political class, unions, media, etc.-were unexpectedly shaken. On the other hand, the specific instance of a highly publicised gang rape trial in Spain called 'La Manada' caused high levels of outrage among the population-especially women-who mobilised to participate in the Feminist Strike and the demonstration on March 8th. Both Feminist Strikes were incredibly challenging and demanding for all of us taking part in their organisation. The complexity of the action demanded a complicated and painstaking organisational structure. For instance, in 2018, Madrid's March 8th Commission started with just four working groups 958646F ER0010.