Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters
One of the main challenges faced by the nuclear industry is the long-term confinement of nuclear waste. Because it is inexpensive and easy to manufacture, cement is the material of choice to store large volumes of radioactive materials, in particular the low-level medium-lived fission products. It i...
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| Format: | Article |
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American Chemical Society (ACS)
2018
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117473 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5559-4190 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7089-8069 |
| _version_ | 1811075764922089472 |
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| author | Kohanoff, Jorge J. Correa, Alfredo A. Caro, Alfredo Dezerald, Lucile Pellenq, Roland Jm Ulm, Franz-Josef Conesa-Labastida, Andres |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Kohanoff, Jorge J. Correa, Alfredo A. Caro, Alfredo Dezerald, Lucile Pellenq, Roland Jm Ulm, Franz-Josef Conesa-Labastida, Andres |
| author_sort | Kohanoff, Jorge J. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | One of the main challenges faced by the nuclear industry is the long-term confinement of nuclear waste. Because it is inexpensive and easy to manufacture, cement is the material of choice to store large volumes of radioactive materials, in particular the low-level medium-lived fission products. It is therefore of utmost importance to assess the chemical and structural stability of cement containing radioactive species. Here, we use ab initio calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) to study the effects of90Sr insertion and decay in C-S-H (calcium-silicate-hydrate) in order to test the ability of cement to trap and hold this radioactive fission product and to investigate the consequences of its β-decay on the cement paste structure. We show that ⁹⁰Sr is stable when it substitutes the Ca²⁺ ions in C-S-H, and so is its daughter nucleus ⁹⁰Y after β-decay. Interestingly,⁹⁰Zr, daughter of ⁹⁰Y and final product in the decay sequence, is found to be unstable compared to the bulk phase of the element at zero K but stable when compared to the solvated ion in water. Therefore, cement appears as a suitable waste form for ⁹⁰Sr storage. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:11:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/117473 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:11:31Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | American Chemical Society (ACS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1174732022-09-26T16:19:33Z Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters Kohanoff, Jorge J. Correa, Alfredo A. Caro, Alfredo Dezerald, Lucile Pellenq, Roland Jm Ulm, Franz-Josef Conesa-Labastida, Andres Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Dezerald, Lucile Pellenq, Roland Jm Ulm, Franz-Josef Conesa-Labastida, Andres One of the main challenges faced by the nuclear industry is the long-term confinement of nuclear waste. Because it is inexpensive and easy to manufacture, cement is the material of choice to store large volumes of radioactive materials, in particular the low-level medium-lived fission products. It is therefore of utmost importance to assess the chemical and structural stability of cement containing radioactive species. Here, we use ab initio calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) to study the effects of90Sr insertion and decay in C-S-H (calcium-silicate-hydrate) in order to test the ability of cement to trap and hold this radioactive fission product and to investigate the consequences of its β-decay on the cement paste structure. We show that ⁹⁰Sr is stable when it substitutes the Ca²⁺ ions in C-S-H, and so is its daughter nucleus ⁹⁰Y after β-decay. Interestingly,⁹⁰Zr, daughter of ⁹⁰Y and final product in the decay sequence, is found to be unstable compared to the bulk phase of the element at zero K but stable when compared to the solvated ion in water. Therefore, cement appears as a suitable waste form for ⁹⁰Sr storage. 2018-08-22T16:31:08Z 2018-08-22T16:31:08Z 2015-11 2015-06 2018-08-21T17:30:59Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0013-936X 1520-5851 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117473 Dezerald, Lucile et al. “Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters.” Environmental Science & Technology 49, 22 (October 2015): 13676–13683 © 2015 American Chemical Society https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5559-4190 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7089-8069 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ACS.EST.5B02609 Environmental Science & Technology Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Chemical Society (ACS) Other repository |
| spellingShingle | Kohanoff, Jorge J. Correa, Alfredo A. Caro, Alfredo Dezerald, Lucile Pellenq, Roland Jm Ulm, Franz-Josef Conesa-Labastida, Andres Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters |
| title | Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters |
| title_full | Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters |
| title_fullStr | Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters |
| title_short | Cement As a Waste Form for Nuclear Fission Products: The Case of ⁹⁰Sr and Its Daughters |
| title_sort | cement as a waste form for nuclear fission products the case of ⁹⁰sr and its daughters |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/117473 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5559-4190 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7089-8069 |
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