Development of technology to reduce environmental problems via innovative water purification agents
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Materials Science and Engineering
Abstract
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Organisations
| Description | The overall project was aimed at developing new materials for the selective removal and long-term sequestration of radioactive Sr-90 to aid the clean-up activities around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan and in the the clean-up of legacy waste at the Sellafield site and elsewhere in the UK. The project was part of a collaboration involving Diamond Light Source and Japanese partners developing novel strontium sequestration routes. The Japanese partners were developing materials that would yield a strontium fluoride waste but subsequently move to producing a strontium loaded struvite phase. Hence initially the Sheffield studies focussed on 1) the immobilisation of strontium fluoride in iron phosphate glasses and latterly on 2) the potential immobilisation of the strontium loaded struvite materials. Incorporation of strontium fluoride into iron phosphate glasses was successfully demonstrated although some crystalline phases were also formed at higher waste loadings. Additionally significant fluoride evaporation was observed which could present practical processing challenges for this approach. Chemical durability studies of the strontium fluoride loaded glasses showed a reduction in leaching rate with time - further work to understand the mechanisms responsible for this in these iron phosphate glasses is required. The struvite materials were only made available in very small quantities by the Japanese collaborators and characterisation of them showed a number of inconsistencies. Attempts to synthesise larger amounts in Sheffield to enable waste form development were only partially successful. |
| Exploitation Route | It would be worth further investigating the potential use of iron phosphate glasses for the immobilisation of Sr rich wastes. |
| Sectors | Energy Environment |