Speaker
Dr
Eric R Vance
(ANSTO)
Description
Spent fuel has long been unofficially classified as HLW which is cooled for a few years to allow the dissipation of short-lived fission products and then is to be contained in thick-walled Cu or carbon steel containers for deep repository disposal where it is argued that the containers will perform immobilisation for ~105 yr. However immobilisation assumes highly reducing conditions in which UO2 is essentially unreactive and even water-soluble fission products will be contained. The only published engineered waste form for spent UO2 fuel is synroc-F in which the U concentration is nearly 50 wt.% and the fission products are incorporated in resistate titanate mineral phases. We have tried to extend this concept by hot isostatic pressing glass-ceramics in which synroc-F constitutes the ceramic phase and the glass furnishes a second phase for fission product immobilisation and increases the general reactivity. We have also used the same approach for acidic 99Mo production ILW.
Primary author
Dr
Eric R Vance
(ANSTO)
Co-authors
Dr
Daniel Gregg
(ANSTO)
Dr
Dorji Chavara
(Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation)
Mr
Ian Watson
(ANSTO)
