Blast Furnace Slag-Cement Grout Blends for the Immobilization of Technetium-Containing Wastes.

摘要

Mixed low-level radioactive and chemically toxic process treatment wastes from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant are stabilized by solidification in cement-based grouts. Conventional portland cement and fly ash grouts are shown to be very effective for retention of hydrolyzable heavy metals (including lead, cadmium, uranium, and nickel), but are marginally acceptable for retention of radioactive sup 99 Tc (which is present in the waste as the highly mobile pertechnate anion). Addition of ground blast furnace slag to the grout is shown to reduce the effective diffusivity of technetium by several orders of magnitude; retention of technetium is improved by decreasing the waste loading in the grout or by increasing the proportion of blast furnace slag in the grout dry mix. The selective effect of slag is believed to be due to its ability to reduce Tc(VIII) to the less soluble Tc(IV) species. The addition of other reductive grout admixtures (e.g., sodium sulfide, ferrous ion, and powdered iron metal) also appear to improve the retention of technetium in grout. 31 refs., 2 figs., 25 tabs. (ERA citation 14:007449)