The Science Behind Turning Nuclear Waste into Glass
A presentation by Charmayne Lonergan

November 12, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
Mid-Columbia Libraries
1620 S. Union St.
Kennewick, WA 99336
A presentation by Charmayne Lonergan
Mid-Columbia Libraries
1620 S. Union St.
Kennewick, WA 99336
Over 50 million gallons of legacy nuclear waste from WWII need to be contained in a stable form. The preferred approach to prevent contamination of the environment and local communities is turning the waste into glass, or vitrification. Glass is an interesting material with properties (such as color, how it flows, density, and others) that are controlled by its chemistry and processing. Work is on-going at PNNL and around the world to understand how we can optimize glass chemistry to solve real world problems! This presentation will describe why glass is an ideal approach for trapping nuclear waste.