Casting granular ion exchange resins with medium-active waste in cement

Medium active waste from nuclear power stations in Sweden is trapped in granular ion exchange resins. The resin is mixed with cement paste and cast in a concrete shell which is cubic and has an edge dimension of 1.2 m. In some cases the ion exchange cement mortar has cracked. The report presents laboratory sutdies of the properties of the ion exchange resin and the mortar. Also the leaching of the moulds has been investigated. It was shown that a mixture with a water cement ratio higher than about 0.5 swells considerably during the first weeks after casting. The diffusion constant for cesium 137 has been determined at 3.10-4 cm2/24-hour period in conjunction with exposure of the mould and mortar to sea water. The Swedish language report has 400 pages with 90 figures and 30 tables. (author)