Obsidians and tektites: Natural analogues for water diffusion in nuclear waste glasses.

摘要

Projected scenarios for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository include significant periods of time when high relative humidity atmospheres will be present, thus the reaction processes of interest will include those known to occur under these conditions. The ideal natural analog for the proposed Yucca Mountain repository would consist of natural borosilicate glasses exposed to expected repository conditions for thousands of years; however, the prospects for identifying such an analog are remote, but an important caveat for using natural analog studies is to relate the reaction processes in the analog to those in the system of interest, rather than a strict comparison of the glass compositions. In lieu of this, identifying natural glasses that have reacted via reaction processes expected in the repository is the most attractive option. The goal of this study is to quantify molecular water diffusion in the natural analogs obsidian and tektites. Results from this study can be used in assessing the importance of factors affecting molecular water diffusion in nuclear waste glasses, relative to other identified reaction processes. In this way, a better understanding of the long-term reaction mechanism can be developed and incorporated into performance assessment models. 17 refs., 4 figs.