Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-wq484 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T07:03:03.726Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Comparison of the Corrosion Behavior of Tank 51 Sludge-Based Glass and a Nonradioactive Homologue Glass

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2012

L. Nuñez
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439
W. L. Ebert
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439
S. F. Wolf
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439
J. K. Bates
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439
Get access

Abstract

We are characterizing the corrosion behavior of the radioactive glass that was made with sludge from Tank 51 at the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) and a nonradioactive glass having the same composition, except for the absence of radionuclides. Static dissolution tests are being conducted in a tuff groundwater solution at glass surface area/solution volume ratios (S/V) of 2000 and 20,000 m−1. These tests are being conducted to assess the relationship between the behavior of this glass in a 7-day Product Consistency Test and in long-term tests, to assess the effects of radionuclides on the glass corrosion behavior, and to measure the disposition of radionuclides that are released as the radioactive glass corrodes. The radioactive glass reacts slower than the nonradioactive glass through the longest test durations completed to date, which are 140 days for tests at 2000 m−1 and about 400 days for tests at 20,000 m−1. This is probably because radiolysis results in lower solution pH values being maintained in tests with the radioactive glass. Rate-affecting alteration phases that had formed within one year in tests with other glasses having compositions similar to the Tank 51 glass have not yet formed in tests with either glass.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Bibler, N. E., Kinard, W. F., Dewberry, R. A., and Coleman, C. J., A Method for the Determination of Waste Acceptance Radionuclides in DWPF Glass and Demonstration of that Method Using SRS Tank 51 Radioactive Sludge and Glass, Westinghouse Savannah River Company Report WSRC-TR-94–0505 (1994).Google Scholar
2. Reed, D. T. and Van Konynenburg, R.A., Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 112, 393404 (1987).Google Scholar
3. Wronkiewicz, D. J., Effects of Radionuclide Decay on Waste Glass Behavior- A Critical Review, Argonne National Laboratory Report ANL-93/45 (1993).Google Scholar
4. Feng, X., Bates, J. K., Buck, E. C, Bradley, C. R., and Gong, M., Nucl. Technol. 104. 193206(1993).Google Scholar
5. Ebert, W. L. and Bates, J. K., Nuclear Technol. 104, 372384 (1993).Google Scholar
6. Ebert, W. L., Bates, J. K., Buck, E. C., Gong, M., and Wolf, S. F., Ceram. Trans. 45, 231241 (1994).Google Scholar
7. Cunnane, J. C., ed., High-Level Waste Borosilicate Glass: A Compendium of Corrosion Characteristics, U.S. Department of Energy Report DOE-EM-0177 (1994).Google Scholar
8. Standard Test Methods for Determining Chemical Durability of Nuclear Waste Glasses: The Product Consistency Test (PCT), Standard C1285–94, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia PA.Google Scholar
9. Andrews, M. K. and Bibler, N. E., Ceram. Trans. 39, 205221 (1993).Google Scholar
10. Bibler, N. E. and Bates, J. K., Mater. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. 176, 327338 (1990).Google Scholar
11. Burns, W. G., Hughes, A. E., Marples, J. A. C., Nelson, R. S., and Stoneham, A. M., Nature 295. 130 (1982).Google Scholar
12. Reed, D. T. and Bowers, D. L., Radiochim Acta 51, 119125 (1990).Google Scholar
13. Ebert, W.L. and Bates, J.K., Ceram. Trans, 61, 479488 (1995).Google Scholar