Fluidized Bed Steam Reformed (FBSR) Mineral Waste Forms: Characterization and Durability Testing

Fluidized Bed Steam Reforming (FBSR) is being considered as a mineralizing technology for the immobilization of a wide variety of wastes that are high in organics, nitrates-nitrites, halides, and/or sulfates. These wastes include the decontaminated High Level Waste (HLW) supernates referred to as low activity waste (LAW) at Department of Energy (DOE) sites in the United States and waste streams that may be generated by the advanced nuclear fuel cycle flowsheets that are being considered by the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) initiative. The organics are pyrolyzed into CO{sub 2} and steam in the absence of air. The FBSR mineral waste form is a granular but can subsequently be made into a monolith for disposal if necessary. The waste form is a multiphase mineral assemblage of Na-Al-Si (NAS) feldspathoid minerals (sodalite, nosean, and nepheline) with cage and ring structures that sequester radionuclides like Tc-99 and Cs-137 and anions such as SO{sub 4}, I, F, and Cl. Iron bearing spinel minerals are also formed and these phases stabilize Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous species such as Cr and Ni. Dissolution rates ({eta}) and activation energies of dissolution are parameters needed for Performance Assessments (PA) to be completed on themore » FBSR mineral waste form. These parameters are defined in this study by Single Pass Flow Through (SPFT) testing. The dissolution rate ({eta}) and the activation energies for dissolution calculated in this study agree with the available rate and activation energy data for natural single crystal nepheline. (authors)« less

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