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This paper reports a study of the high-temperature stability of ion-implanted yttria-stabilized zirconia and magnesium aluminate spinel, which are foreseen as matrices for the transmutation of nuclear waste. Stable analogs of radiotoxic fission products (Cs) were implanted into both materials and the stability of the implanted systems was studied upon annealing at a high temperature. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry experiments with a macro- and a micro-ion-beam, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy observations show that the annealing behavior strongly depends on the material. In zirconia Cs begins to desorb out of the crystal at 550°C in samples which remain homogeneous. On the contrary, the desorption of Cs is observed at 850°C in spinel by the exfoliation of the surface of the samples.

This paper reports modifications of the chemical and structural properties of MgAl2O4 single crystals implanted with Cs ions and submitted to high-temperature annealing. The composition changes, the damage created in the three sublattices (Al, Mg and O) of the crystals, and the behavior of implanted ions were studied by Rutherford backscattering and channeling experiments as a function of the Cs fluence and annealing temperature. The data show that annealing above 700–800 °C induces a huge modification of the stoichiometry of the material, a decrease of the lattice disorder, and an increase of the fraction of Cs atoms located in substitutional lattice sites. These results have to be taken into account for the future use of spinel as a matrix for the transmutation of nuclear waste.