Ion-implantation studies of nuclear-waste forms
Abstract
The first observations of physical and chemical changes induced by lead implantation damage and leaching are reported for two proposed US nuclear waste forms for commercial wastes. To simulate the effects of recoil nuclei due to alpha decay, the materials were implanted with lead ions at equivalent doses. In the titanate waste form, the zirconolite, perovskite, hollandite, and rutile phases all exhibited a mottled appearance in the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) typical of defect clusters in radiation damaged, crystalline solids. One titanate phase containing uranium was found by TEM to be amorphous after implantation at the highest dose. No enhanced leaching (deionized water, room temperature, 24 hours) of the irradiated titanate waste form, including the amorphous phase, was detected by TEM, but Rutherford backscattering (RBS) suggested a loss of cesium and calcium after 21 hours of leaching.
- Publication:
-
Presented at Ann. Meeting of the Mater. Res. Soc
- Pub Date:
- November 1981
- Bibcode:
- 1981mrs..meet.....N
- Keywords:
-
- Alpha Decay;
- Ion Implantation;
- Leaching;
- Lead (Metal);
- Radioactive Wastes;
- Backscattering;
- Crystal Defects;
- Electron Microscopy;
- Simulation;
- Titanates;
- Nuclear and High-Energy Physics