Glass-Ceramic Waste Forms for Immobilizing Plutonium

Abstract

ABSTRACTResults are reported on several new glass and glass-ceramic waste formulations for plutonium disposition. The approach proposed involves employing existing calcined high level waste (HLW) present at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) as an additive to: 1) aid in the formation of a durable waste form and 2) decrease the attractiveness level of the plutonium from a proliferation viewpoint. The plutonium, PuO2, loadings employed were 15 wt% (glass) and 17 wt% (glass-ceramic). Results in the form of x-ray diffraction patterns, microstructure and durability tests are presented on cerium surrogate and plutonium loaded waste forms using simulated calcined HLW and demonstrate that durable phases, zirconia and zirconolite, contain essentially all the plutonium.