Static Leaching of Radioactive Glass Under Conditions Simulating a Granitic Repository for High-Level Waste: Phase 1.

Abstract

A joint research project with participation from Japan, Switzerland and Sweden is underway at Studsvik (The JSS-project). The project concerns investigations on the leaching of fully radioactive glass (containing 12 wt% fission product oxides and actinide oxides) manufactured by CEA/Marcoule. So far the glass has been leached in doubly distilled water and in silicate water at 90 C. Some leaching experiments involved the presence of crushed Stripa granite in the same containers as the glass.Due to strong radiation and the presence of plutonium the leaching was carried out in a specially designed lead cave using gilded stainless steel containers.Weight losses, pH and elemental mass losses were determined together with infrared reflection spectral changes. These data are compared to those obtained from a simulated nonradioactive glass of nearly the same composition and to similar alkali borosilicate glasses previously investigated at Studsvik.

High level waste immobilization forms

“…Data from an international collaboration (Japan, Sweden, Switzerland) evaluating the leach resistance of a radioactive glass melted at Marcoule, using the AVM process, are especially encouraging (61). The glass composition (ABS118, simulated, and JSS-A, radioactive) is close to that selected by COGEMA for commercial waste vitrification (15).…”

“…water and an Ar atmosphere, both radioactive and simulated glass showed leach rates of 0.24 g/m2*day. There were no apparent effects on leach rate due to the high radioactivity (61).…”