Probing electronic environment in simulated waste glass for β-irradiation damage using TDPAC

Borosilicate glasses owing to its chemical durability, thermal stability and ability to accommodate large quantities of the waste has been considered one of the matrices for vitrification of High Level Waste (HLW) generated during reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. The structural damage to glasses from radioactive decay of immobilized actinides and long lived fission products is an important facet for understanding its stability towards immobilization of High Level Waste. Beta radiation from fission products activity of immobilized waste, such as ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr, will dominate the radiation effects in initial 500 Years. Hence it is important to understand the structural changes due to Beta-irradiation damage. In present work, a Simulated Waste NBS (Sodium-Boro-Silicate) glass of composition similar to Trombay Waste glass has been studied for irradiation damage using Time Differential Perturbed Angular Correlation (TDPAC) spectroscopy