The Interaction of Na-Al-P-Glass (Cs, Sr-Bearing) with Water at Elevated Temperatures (70–250°C)

At present Na-Al-P-glass is used in Russia as matrix for high level nuclear waste which include a sufficient portion of 90Sr and 137Cs isotopes. It has been known that this type of glass is characterized by relatively poor hydrothermal stability above 120°C (Krilova et al., 1990 [1], Balukova et al., 1987 [2]). Although careful studies were devoted to the glass, some questions of geochemical behavior of Sr and Cs in the limits of the nearest repository environment have remained undecided. For example, these have been left uncertain: the mechanism of the glass leaching, phenomena limiting the glass dissolution, the detailed composition of newly formed phases, temperature dependence of the glass solubility. The main purpose of the present experimental investigation was to detect factors controlling Sr and Cs concentrations of aquous solutions and to study the possibility of new solid phase formation as a factor slowing down migration of Cs and Sr in water satureted circumstance.