Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-767nl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T16:02:16.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of Groundwater Oxidation Potential and Radiolysis on Waste Glass Performance in Crystalline Repository Environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Carol M. Jantzen  and
Ned E. Bibler
Carol M. Jantzen
Affiliation:
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Savannah River Laboratory Aiken, South Carolina 29808
Ned E. Bibler
Affiliation:
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Savannah River Laboratory Aiken, South Carolina 29808
Get access

Abstract

Laboratory experiments have shown that groundwater conditions in a granite repository will be as reducing as those in a basalt repository. Chemical analysis of the reduced groundwaters confirmed that the Fe2+/Fe3+ couple controls the oxidation potential (Eh). The reducing groundwater conditions were found to decrease the time-dependent release of soluble elements (Li and B) from the waste glass. However, due to the lower solubility of multivalent elements released from the glass when the groundwaters are reducing, these elements have significantly lower concentrations in the leachates.

Gamma radiolysis reduced the oxidation potential of both granitic and basaltic groundwater in the absence of both waste glass and oxygen. This occurred in tests at atmospheric pressure where H2 could have escaped from the solution. The mechanism for this decrease in Eh is under investigation but appears related to the reactive amorphous precipitate in both groundwaters. The results of these tests suggest that radiolysis may not cause the groundwaters to become oxidizing in a crystalline repository when abundant Fe2+ species are present.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 50: Symposium STOCKHOLM – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management IX , 1985 , 219
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. White, W. B. in Final Report of the Defense High-Level Waste Leaching Mechanisms Program, PNL-5157, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA, 4.1–4.49, August 1984.Google Scholar
2. Peters, R. D. and Diamond, H., PNL-3971, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA, 21 pp, October 1981.Google Scholar
3. Apted, M. J. and Myers, J., RHO-BW-ST-38P, Rockwell Hanford Operations, Richland, WA, 78 pp, July 1982.Google Scholar
4. Coles, D. G. and Apted, M. J., Sci. Basis for Nuclear Waste Management, VII, McVay, G. L. (ed.), Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, 129–136 (1984).Google Scholar
5. Jantzen, C. M. and Wicks, G. G., Sci. Basis for Nuclear Waste Mgt. VIII, Jantzen, C. M. et al. (eds), Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, PA, 29–35 (1985).Google Scholar
6. Graganic, I. G. and Draganic, Z. D., The Radiation Chemistry of Water, Academic Press, New York (1971).Google Scholar
7. Christensen, H. and Bjergbakke, E., Sci. Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VI, Bookins, D. G. (ed), Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, 429–436 (1983).Google Scholar
8. Neretnieks, I., Sci. Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VII, McVay, G. L. (ed), Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, 1009–1022 (1984).Google Scholar
9. Neretnieks, I., Nuclear Technology, 62, 110–115 (1983).Google Scholar
10. Jantzen, C. M., Sci. Basis for Nuclear Waste Mangement VII, McVay, G. L. (ed), Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, 613–621 (1984).Google Scholar
11. Pine, G. L. and Jantzen, C. M., “Implications of One-Year Basalt Weathering/Reactivity Study for a Basalt Repository Environment.” DP (in draft), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Savannah River Laboratory, Aiken, SC.Google Scholar
12. Sandell, E. B., Colorimetric Determination of Traces of Metals, Interscience Publishers, Inc., New York (1959).Google Scholar
13. Wikberg, P., Grenthe, I., Axelsen, K., SKBF/KBS 83-40, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden (1983).Google Scholar
14. Jacobs, G. K. and Apted, M. J., EOS Transactions, 62, 1965 (1981).Google Scholar
15. Nuclear Waste Materials Handbook Waste Form Test Methods, MCC-IP Static Test, Prepared by Materials Characterization Center, Mendel, J. E., Manager, USDOE Report DOE/TIC-11400, Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, WA (1981).Google Scholar
16. Lane, D. L., Apted, M. J., Allen, C. C., J. Myers. Sci. Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VII, McVay, G. L. (ed), Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, 95–104 (1984).Google Scholar
17. White, A. F. and Yee, A., Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 49, 1263–1275 (1985).Google Scholar
18. White, A. F., Yee, A., and Flexser, S., Chem. Geology, 49, 73–86 (1985).Google Scholar
19. Garrels, R. M. and Christ, C. L.. Solutions, Minerals, and Equilibria, Harper Row Publ., New York (1965).Google Scholar
20. Drever, J. I.. The Geochemistry of Natural Waters, Printice Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ (1982).Google Scholar
21. Bibler, N. E., Nuclear Technology, 34, 412–415 (1977).Google Scholar
22. Mathews, R. W., Aust. J. Chem., 36, 1305 (1983).Google Scholar