Abstract
Study of glasses with a high content of rare earth elements has a particular interest due to their use in nuclear waste storage. New glass matrices are required to immobilize even higher concentrations of high-level waste in comparison to borosilicate glasses already used. We study the effect of aluminum/boron substitution on the structure of peraluminous lanthanum-rich sodium aluminoborosilicate glasses of 55SiO2-(25-x)Al2O3-xB2O3-15Na2O-5La2O3 composition, where lanthanum simulate all the lanthanides as well as the minor actinides typical for the high-level waste. We have here chosen a chemical composition of a model glass that can accept the presence of minor actinides among the fission products generated by the new reactors of the fourth generation.Transmission Electron Microscopy, Differential Scanning Calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and Infrared spectroscopy showed the existence of phase separation at high boron oxide concentrations, and finely characterized the structure of the major vitreous network.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call