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Nuclear Waste Into Glass: Viscosities Of Molten Analogs Of Radioactive Waste Disposal Media, Betty Pang, Kenneth E. Windom

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Disposal of high-level radioactive wastes involves vitrification of a mixture of waste products and borosilicate glass frit. Monitoring the composition of the mixture is critical to the control of the vitrification process, bur is difficult because of the high levels or radioactive components in the mixture. Synthetic non-radioactive analogs of the products from nuclear reprocessing have been prepared and their viscosities measured over a wide range of temperature appropriate to those of the vitrification process. Preliminary results indicate that viscosity is a linear function of composition, under isothermal conditions, for a limited compositional range that encompasses the proportions of waste …