Technetium-99 (99Tc) can bring serious environmental threats because of its long half-life (t1/2 = ~2.1 x 105 years), high fission yield (~6%), and high solubility and mobility in the ground water. The high volatility makes it difficult to immobilize 99Tc in continuous melters vitrifying 99Tc-containing nuclear wastes in borosilicate glasses. This work explores a possibility of incorporating a high concentration of 99Tc, surrogated by the non-radioactive Re, in an iron phosphate glass by melting mixtures of iron phosphate glass frits with 1.5-6 mass% KReO4 at ~1000 C. The retention of Re achieved was ~1.1 mass%. The normalized Re release by the 7-day Product Consistency Test was
Revised: February 3, 2016 |
Published: June 15, 2013
Citation
Xu K., P.R. Hrma, W. Um, and J. Heo. 2013.Iron phosphate glass for immobilization of 99Tc.Journal of Nuclear Materials 441, no. 1-3:262-266.PNNL-SA-97280.doi:10.1016/j.jnucmat.2013.06.008