Abstract
Understanding the effect of near-field materials, such as iron corrosion products, on the alteration of vitreous nuclear waste is essential for modeling long-term stability of these waste forms in a geological repository. This work presents experimental results for which monoliths of International Simple Glass—a six oxide borosilicate glass–, with polished and unpolished cut sides, were aged for 70 days under oxic conditions at 90 °C in a solution initially saturated in 29SiO2 at pH 7; then magnetite was added to the leaching environment. Solution and solid analyses were performed to correlate the changes in the surface features and dissolution kinetics. It was found that magnetite primarily influences the mechanically constrained surface of the non-polished sides of the monoliths, with little to no effect on the polished surfaces. This work highlights the importance of the unique chemistry within surface cracks that invokes a drastic change in alteration of glass in environments containing iron corrosion products.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1 |
| Journal | npj Materials Degradation |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This research was performed using funding received from the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program under Project 23–3361 in addition to funding provided by the CEA, Areva, and the Chateaubriand Fellowship from the Embassy of France in the U.S. Authors warmly thank Laurent Dupuy at Biophy Research, France for the TOF-SIMS analysis, Martiane Cabié at Aix-Marseille University, France, for assistance with TEM, and CEA technical staffs for SEM analyses and Thibaut Martin for technical assistance.