Crystallographic Evaluation of Sodium Zirconium Phosphate as a Host Structure for Immobilization of Cesium and Strontium

摘要

Sodium zirconium phosphate (NZP) is a potential material for immobilization of nuclear effluents. It was observed up to ～7.16 wt% (～2.67 mol%) of strontium and ～14.46 wt% (～3.56 mol%) of cesium could be simultaneously loaded into NZP formulations without significant changes in the three-dimensional framework structure. The crystal chemistry of Na_(1-x)(Cs_(1.33)Sr_1)_λZr_2P_3O_(12) (x = 0.1-1.0) has been investigated using General Structure Analysis System programming. The CsSrNZP phases crystallize in the space group R-3c and Z = 6. Powder diffraction data have been subjected to Rietveld refinement to arrive at a satisfactory structural convergence of R-factors.