Radioactive iodine conditioning in silver phosphate glasses

Iodine 129 is a radioactive waste coming from the nuclear industry, which is currently handled by isotopic dilution. As a part of the assessment of alternative solutions, this work focuses on the study of the feasibility of iodine conditioning using a glass matrix aiming at a long-term storage in a geological repository. Silver phosphate glasses, which can incorporate high amounts of iodine and can be synthesized at low temperature, were chosen for this study. In order to increase their chemical durability, theses glasses were crosslinked by niobium and bismuth oxides. Phospho-molybdenum glasses, crosslinked by niobium, were also synthesized. Niobium and bismuth incorporation limits were determined for an iodine amount of 12 wt% and range from 1.6 mol% to 4.0 mol%, depending on the Ag₂O/P₂O₅ ratio and the amount of MoO₃. Structural investigations show that the introduction of those crosslinking reagents induces a significant increase of the polymerization degree of the glasses. Despite this higher connectivity, the two crosslinking reagents have a low impact on the thermal properties of iodine-containing silver phosphate glasses, as well as on their resistance to alteration in aqueous medium. However, phospho-molybdenum glasses containing iodine and crosslinked by niobium display an increase of their glass transition temperature and of their chemical durability. Indeed, the alteration rate decreases from a factor 100 for a phospho-molybdenum glass containing 4.0 mol% of Nb₂O₅ in comparison to a pure phosphate glass, with the apparition of a residual alteration regime. In clay-equilibrated water, however, this tendency is not verified. (author)