Key Parameters of Glass Dissolution in Integrated Systems

Abstract

ABSTRACTLeaching cells were designed to test the alterability of nuclear waste glasses under conditions closely simulating an actual geological repository. This paper summarizes the results of twenty long-duration tests simulating a variety of storage conditions. The effects of the backfilling materials, the canister, glass cracking and crystallization, a activity and the nature of the host rock are discussed. Moreover, an experiment has been in progress for over seven years in a granite medium; after three years the corrosion rate dropped to about 2 × 10−3 g m−2 d−1, and is sustained only by the water renewal due to sampling at regular intervals. These results constitute a valuable data base on R7T7 glass alteration in geological media at 90°C. Glass alteration mechanisms described in pure water appear to be applicable to a hard rock medium. In clay and salt, however, considerable work remains to be done before environmental factors can be taken into account in an overall dissolution model.