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Strontium Leachability of Hydrofracture Grouts for Sludge-Slurries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

M. T. Morgan
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box X, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
E. W. Mcdaniel
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box X, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
J. G. Moore
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box X, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
H. E. Devaney
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box X, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
L. R. Dole
Affiliation:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P. O. Box X, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA
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Abstract

This paper summarizes a series of experiments to determine the strontium leachability of cement-based sludge-slurry hydrofracture grouts.

The hydrofracture process has been used at ORNL since 1966 for the routine disposal of intermediate-level waste (ILW) solutions. In this process, cement and other additives are mixed with a waste stream to form grout, which is then injected into a shale bed at a pressure sufficient to cause fracturing along the horizontal bedding planes. This injected grout soon hardens, fixing the radionuclides between layers of the massive Conasauga shale formation.

Modified IAEA dynamic leach tests on hydrofracture grout specimens showed improved leach resistance (by a factor of 3 to 5) as the curing time increased from 28 d to 91 d. A weak trend toward lower leachability with increased amounts of dry solids was observed.

The moving boundary-plus-diffusion leach model fits the dynamic leach data successfully in most cases. An apparent diffusion coefficient of 5 × 10−12 cm2/s and a moving boundary coefficent of 1 × 10−7 s−1 were obtained when one of the best grout compositions was leached in distilled water.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1983

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References

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