Reaction sintered glass: a durable matrix for spinel-forming nuclear waste compositions

Response behavior of ZrO2 under swift heavy ion irradiation with and without external pressure

“…Because of these properties, ZrO 2 is one of the most important functional ceramics [10]. It is used, e.g., as inert fuel matrix in nuclear reactors [11,12,13] or as containment material for radioactive waste [14,15]. Important for our experiments is the existence of several structural polymorphs and the fact that ion irradiation at ambient pressure leads to a structural transition from the monoclinic to the tetragonal phase [16].…”

Microstructure and leaching durability of glass composite wasteforms for spent clinoptilolite immobilisation

“…Several terminologies have been used in describing the end monolithic wasteform of a glass composite. Typical terms used are: glass bonded wasteform [2], ceramic wasteform [3], sintered glass [4], hot pressed glass matrix composite [5], reaction sintered glass [6], glass encapsulated wasteform [7], sintered aerogel [8], vitreous ceramic [9], glassy slag [10], glass ceramic [11] and glass-like material [12]. Much of these different terminologies have arisen from the different routes of producing the final glass composite or are related to the end features of the wasteform microstructure.…”

Borosilicate and lead silicate glass matrix composites containing pyrochlore phases for nuclear waste encapsulation

“…With the aim of exploiting both the advantages of glass waste forms and the radiation resistance of certain crystalline phases, waste forms based on composite materials containing ceramic and glass phases, or on specifically designed glass-ceramics, have been proposed for the immobilization of different types of radioactive waste [14][15][16][17][18][19], with some early concepts summarised in Refs. [20,21].…”

“…The incorporation of wastes in a silica matrix was used also at the Catholic University in the USA [18], by capillary infiltration of liquid waste through a highly porous host structure. More recently, reaction-sintered glasses have been developed as durable matrices for spinel-forming nuclear waste compositions [19], following previous experiences in Germany [22] and Argentina [23] on sintered glass matrices. In fact, there are several earlier developments regarding the encapsulation of waste containing crystalline phases in silicate glass and glass-ceramic matrices [24][25][26][27][28][29].…”