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The materials the United States and other countries plan to use to store high-level nuclear waste will likely degrade faster than anyone previously knew because of the way those materials interact, new research shows.
The findings, published today in the journal Nature Materials, show that corrosion of nuclear waste storage materials accelerates because of changes in the chemistry of the nuclear waste solution, and because of the way the materials interact with one another.
“This indicates that the current models may not be sufficient to keep this waste safely stored,” said Xiaolei Guo, lead author of the study and deputy director of Ohio State’s Center for Performance and Design of Nuclear Waste Forms and Containers, part of the university’s College of Engineering. “And it shows that we need to develop a new model for storing nuclear waste.”
The team’s research focused on storage materials for high-level nuclear waste — primarily defense waste, the legacy of past nuclear arms production. The waste is highly radioactive. While some types of the waste have half-lives of about 30 years, others — for example, plutonium — have a half-life that can be tens of thousands of years. The half-life of a radioactive element is the time needed for half of the material to decay.
The United States currently has no disposal site for that waste; according to the U.S. General Accountability Office, it is typically stored near the plants where it is produced. A permanent site has been proposed for Yucca Mountain in Nevada, though plans have stalled. Countries around the world have debated the best way to deal with nuclear waste; only one, Finland, has started construction on a long-term repository for high-level nuclear waste.
But the long-term plan for high-level defense waste disposal and storage around the globe is largely the same. It involves mixing the nuclear waste with other materials to form glass or ceramics, and then encasing those pieces of glass or ceramics -- now radioactive -- inside metallic canisters. The canisters then would be buried deep underground in a repository to isolate it.
In this study, the researchers found that when exposed to an aqueous environment, glass and ceramics interact with stainless steel to accelerate corrosion, especially of the glass and ceramic materials holding nuclear waste.
The study qualitatively measured the difference between accelerated corrosion and natural corrosion of the storage materials. Guo called it "severe."
Journal Reference:
Xiaolei Guo, Stephane Gin, Penghui Lei, Tiankai Yao, Hongshen Liu, Daniel K. Schreiber, Dien Ngo, Gopal Viswanathan, Tianshu Li, Seong H. Kim, John D. Vienna, Joseph V. Ryan, Jincheng Du, Jie Lian, Gerald S. Frankel. Self-accelerated corrosion of nuclear waste forms at material interfaces. Nature Materials, 2020; DOI: 10.1038/s41563-019-0579-x
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29 2020, @08:25PM (6 children)
Most of the city's uninhabitable, so might as well put it to good use.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday January 29 2020, @09:36PM
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday January 29 2020, @10:22PM
Yeah, let's not put Nuclear Waste next to the largest fresh water river in the United States of America.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday January 29 2020, @10:24PM (3 children)
(readers will have to work out which city I'm referring to under their own steam, I've said all I need to.)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday January 30 2020, @02:22AM (2 children)
Ipswich? [thesuffolkcoast.co.uk]
or Aberdeen? [visitabdn.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday January 30 2020, @07:23AM (1 child)
Why both the same coast? I left that ambiguous for a reason. You could have had Liverpool and Sunderland, for pity's sake!
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday January 30 2020, @07:38AM
"Most underwhelming places in UK".. These two were top of the list.
Could have also had Blackpool, or Tintagel (well, anywhere in Cornwall, really)
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex