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Leaching of Actinides from Nuclear Waste Glass: French Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

E.Y. Vernaz
Affiliation:
Rhône Valley Nuclear Research Center, DPR/SCD, BP 171, F 30205 Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France
N. Godon
Affiliation:
Rhône Valley Nuclear Research Center, DPR/SCD, BP 171, F 30205 Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France
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Abstract

Results are presented for a large number of aqueous leach tests on glass specimens doped with 237Np, 238Pu, 239pu, 241Am or 244Cm. The effects of the leaching mode (static or dynamic), temperature and environmental materials are discussed. The amount of actinides contained in the alteration film is characterized by the retention factor RF = NL(B)/NL(act). The neptunium retention factor ranged from 1 to 10 depending on the test conditions; for plutonium and americium, the retention factor varied from 6 to 1300.

In general, the retention factor increased with the temperature. The very important influence of the environmental materials shows that there is competition for actinide retention between the alteration film and the surrounding materials, but in every case the amount of ca activity released into solution is very low.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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References

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