Fabrication and characterization of MCC approved testing material - ATM-8 glass

The Materials Characterization Center (MCC) Approved Testing Material ATM-8 is a borosilicate glass that incorporates elements typical of high-level waste (HLW) resulting from the reprocessing of commercial nuclear reactor fuel. Its composition is based upon the simulated HLW glass type 76-68 (Mendel, J.E. et al., 1977, Annual Report of the Characteristics of High-Level Waste Glasses, BNWL-2252, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington), to which depleted uranium, technetium-99, neptunium-237 and plutonium-239 have been added at moderate to low levels. The glass was requested by the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) Project. It was produced by the MCC at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) operated for the Department of Energy (DOE) by Battelle Memorial Institute. ATM-8 glass was produced in April of 1984, and is the second in a series of testing materials for NNWSI. This report discusses its fabrication (starting materials, batch and glass preparation, measurement and testing equipment, other equipment, procedures, identification system and materials availability and storage, and characterization (bulk density) measurements, chemical analysis, microscopic examination, and x-ray diffraction analysis. 4 refs., 2 figs., 10 tabs