IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v445y2007i7124d10.1038_nature05425.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantification of actinide α-radiation damage in minerals and ceramics

Author

Listed:
  • Ian Farnan

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Herman Cho

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

  • William J. Weber

    (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Abstract

Ceramics under pressure Most proposals for the geological disposal of spent nuclear fuels involve the separation of plutonium and other actinides for special attention. They are heavy emitters of alpha radiation, and immobilization in ceramics, rather than glass, is the favoured treatment. One group of synthetic ceramics touted for the role is inspired by the geological zircons, which have shown their durability by retaining uranium and thorium isotopes for billions of years. Now a new study of the synthetic zircons used to contain plutonium-rich materials suggests that they are not as durable as was thought. Alpha particles emitted by these isotopes can dislodge atoms in the ceramic, making the material more susceptible to breakdown. This means that radioactivity could leak out after only 1,400 years of storage, well short of the target immobilization time of 241,000 years. On the plus side, this work provides a way of assessing alternative structures for actinide immobilization that might offer greater durability.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Farnan & Herman Cho & William J. Weber, 2007. "Quantification of actinide α-radiation damage in minerals and ceramics," Nature, Nature, vol. 445(7124), pages 190-193, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:445:y:2007:i:7124:d:10.1038_nature05425
    DOI: 10.1038/nature05425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05425
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature05425?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:445:y:2007:i:7124:d:10.1038_nature05425. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.