Radiation Effects in Murataite Ceramics

Synthetic murataite, an isometric, derivative of the fluorite-structure, has been proposed as a potential host phase for the immobilization of rare earth elements (REE) and actinides. A 1 MeV Kr+ ion irradiation has been performed on synthetic murataite ceramics in the system Ca-Ti-U-Mn-Al-Zr-Ce-O for different structural multiples of the fluorite unit cell. The temperature dependence of the amorphization dose has been determined. A higher critical temperature was obtained for the disordered murataite as compared to that of murataite superstructures, suggesting that murataite becomes more “resistant” to ion beam-induced damage with increasing degrees of structural disorder.