Iron Polyphosphate Glasses for Waste Immobilization
Abstract
Iron polyphosphate glasses resist attack by water, can dissolve large concentrations of species that are otherwise insoluble in borosilicate glass melts, and can be processed at relatively low temperatures (1000-1200°C), and so are viable hosts for vitrifying hazardous and radioactive wastes. The properties of iron polyphosphate glasses depend on the distributions of phosphate anions and the nature of the bonds between those anions and various metal polyhedra, and quantitative information can be obtained about those structures using a variety of spectroscopic, diffraction, and chromatographic techniques. This structural information helps explain compositional trends in properties, including dissolution rates, electrical conductivity, thermal properties and crystallization tendency. Studies of waste forms made with low activity and high level wastes are reviewed and related back to an understanding of the structures and properties of simpler iron polyphosphate glasses.
Recommended Citation
R. K. Brow et al., "Iron Polyphosphate Glasses for Waste Immobilization," International Journal of Applied Glass Science, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 4 - 14, Blackwell Publishing Inc., Jan 2020.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1111/ijag.13565
Department(s)
Materials Science and Engineering
Second Department
Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science
Keywords and Phrases
Durability; Glass Forming Melts; Glass Forming Systems; Phosphate; Properties; Redox State; Structure; Surfaces
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2041-1286; 2041-1294
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2020 The American Ceramic Society and Wiley Periodicals, Inc, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Jan 2020
Comments
The authors thank a number of funding agencies that have supported our research on iron phosphate glasses, including the National Science Foundation (DMR-0305202 and DMR-0502463), the Nuclear Energy University Program of the US Department of Energy (NEUP 09-144), and the DOE SBIR/STTR program (Contract # DE-SC0011906), and we thank the many students at Missouri S&T who did the work. The authors greatly appreciate the contributions of Prof. Delbert E. Day and Dr. Chandra S. Ray (Missouri S&T) who, with their students and with the support of the US Department of Energy, first developed iron phosphate glasses as a viable medium for immobilizing nuclear wastes.