JRP 05-20

Partners

FZK

CEA

Contact

Dr. D. Bosbach
Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe-INE P.O. Box 3640 - 76021 Karlsruhe Germany
Phone + 49 (0) 7247 82 60 48
E-mail e-mail

Structural incorporation of actinides into clay minerals

Status

 
Terminated - Planned from November 2006 till May 2008

Goals

The aim of this joint research project is to understand the structural incorporation of trivalent actinides into the octahedral sheet of clay minerals. For this purpose, novel synthesis procedures will be combined with spectroscopic techniques, such as: polarized extended x-absorption fine structure (PEXAFS) spectroscopy and time resolved laser fluorescence spectroscopy (TRLFS).

Expected results

Clay minerals are foreseen to play a major role in the safe disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW) in deep geological formations. Identifying and characterizing the structural incorporation of trivalent actinides in these minerals will complete our understanding of actinide and lanthanide retention (in addition to adsorption and ion exchange reactions) at the molecular level.

The interpretation of laboratory-scale actinide sorption experiments with clay minerals, and their extrapolation regarding longterm safety aspects of a nuclear waste repository system, will also help to improve the reliability of performance assessment.

Reports