PNNL

Abstract

Sickafus et al. in "Radiation Tolerance of Complex Oxides" (4 August, p. 748) note "that compounds with the fluorite structure are especially stable to a displacive radiation damage environment" and propose that fluorite structure-types, such as Er2Zr2O7, have important applications in nuclear waste management. The most obvious application is plutonium immobilization. We earlier proposed Gd2Zr2O7 for plutonium immobilization ( ) based on our discovery of the radiation resistance of compositions in the gadolinium-zirconate system (1,2) and the high neutron cross-section for Gd. This letter clarifies the need for radiation-resistance and comments on the stability of fluorite structure types.