Durability of Defense Waste Processing Facility glasses within the Purex range of compositions

Processing in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) is controlled by constraints on predicted properties of the product glass. One of these properties is chemical durability, which is measured as the response of various glass constituents to the seven-day Product Consistency Test (PCT) [1]. As currently implemented into the DWPF's Product Composition Control System (PCCS) the response of boron is taken as representative of all of the constituent responses, and control is in terms of the boron response. This response, in normalized units and in log scale, is taken to be a linear function of the glass's free energy of hydration, ΔG. ΔG is a parameter which represents the sum of influences on durability of the various glass oxide components. A generalized relationship between these two variables is documented in [2]. This relationship appears to underpredict releases for glasses in the so-called ''Purex'' range of compositions which comprises a worst-case DWPF operating range. Using a similar methodology as in [2], a linear regression specific to Purex compositions is developed herein