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Radiation Effects in Crystalline Oxide Host Phases for the Immobilization of Actinides

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2011

William J. Weber  and
Rodney C. Ewing
William J. Weber
Affiliation:
Fundamental Science Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland, WA 99352, USA
Rodney C. Ewing
Affiliation:
Department of Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2104, USA
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Abstract

Radiation effects from alpha-decay events in crystalline oxides, which are proposed for the immobilization of actinides, often lead to amorphization, macroscopic swelling and order-of-magnitude increases in dissolution rates for all of the phases currently under consideration. However, the results of systematic experimental studies using short-lived actinides and ion-beam irradiations, studies of radiation effects in U- and Th-bearing minerals, and the development of new models of the damage process over the past 20 years have led to a substantial increase in the understanding of the processes of damage accumulation in apatite, zircon, perovskite, zirconolite, and pyrochlore/fluorite structures. This fundamental scientific understanding now provides a basis for predicting the performance of nuclear waste forms in a radiation field. One of the recent successes of these studies has been the discovery of a class of radiation-resistant pyrochlore/fluorite structures that can serve as highly durable, radiation-resistant host phases for the immobilization of actinides.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 713: Symposium JJ – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXV , 2002 , JJ3.1
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2002

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