STUDIES OF GLASS LEACHING PROCESS: A MODELING APPROACH

摘要

According to the nuclear fuel cycle strategy of China,rnspent fuel will be reprocessed, and the high levelrnradioactive liquid waste from reprocessing will be vitrifiedrnand disposed in deep geological repository. In order tornevaluate the quality of waste glass, leaching process of thernglass has been simulated using EQ3/6, a geochemicalrnsoftware package developed by the Lawrence LivermorernLaboratory. The modeling shows that a lot of secondaryrnminerals containing the components of the glass could formrndue to the interaction between glass and groundwater inrnBeishan, northwest China. The formation of the secondaryrnminerals could not only decrease concentrations of thernradionuclides in the groundwater, but also fill and block thernpores in the rock, and reduce the groundwater flow rate.rnThese processes are very important to prevent the nuclidesrnfrom migrating into the human’s environment.