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Radwaste Immobilization by Structural Modification—the Crystallochemical Properties of SYNROC, a Titanate Ceramic
Author(s) -
White Timothy J.,
Segall Robert L.,
Turner Peter S.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition in english
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 0570-0833
DOI - 10.1002/anie.198503573
Subject(s) - ceramic , materials science , crystal twinning , radioactive waste , chemical engineering , sintering , composite material , chemistry , microstructure , nuclear chemistry , engineering
New studies utilizing electron microscopic techniques have revealed the immobilization of radionuclides in crystalline ceramic waste forms to be not merely a question of substituting waste elements into the appropriate crystallographic sites of a host matrix. Rather than entering the ceramic as a “continuous” solid solution it has been found that the incorporation of highly radioactive waste elements is commonly accompanied by structural modification. This may take the form of cation ordering, crystallographic shear, or twinning on a unit cell scale. Such mechanisms considerably enhance the capacity of a ceramic to immobilize (simulated) radwaste and impart to it the flexibility to respond to inevitable variations in wastestream composition.