WAXS investigation of lanthanide borosilicate glasses

Structural characterization of nuclear glasses requires the combination of several experimental and simulation techniques. Experimental ones probe the electronic environment at short distances (EXAFS, NMR) or at medium range distances (WAXS, AWAXS) or the nuclear environment (neutron scattering). We have built a new competence in X Ray Wide Angle Scattering (WAXS) by mounting two based-lab diffractometers with Mo X ray tubes, one of them being located in a shielded glove box, and by writing a new software to easily extract structure factors and radial distribution functions from the experiment. We present here a preliminary study of a simplified borosilicate glass doped with Eu (europium), which is a fission product, and which is often used as a stimulant of trivalent actinides. The WAXS technique has been successfully applied, the structure factor being in good agreement with the one obtained by molecular dynamics simulation. Thus, knowledge of the Eu local environment has been deduced and results compared with data from EXAFS and NMR analysis. (authors)