Advanced Waste Management Strategies for High Dose Spent Adsorbents
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Materials
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Publications
Pletser D
(2017)
Immobilisation process for contaminated zeolitic ion exchangers from Fukushima
in MRS Advances
Fossati PCM
(2018)
Atomic-scale description of interfaces in rutile/sodium silicate glass-crystal composites.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Pletser D
(2018)
Temperature dependent volatilisation behaviour of Cs from two commercial adsorbents used at Fukushima measured using novel experimental apparatus
in Progress in Nuclear Energy
| Description | Working with colleagues at Sheffield University and Kyushu and Tohoku universities in Japan we are developing wasteforms to immobilise the zeolite adsorbents being used to clean contaminated water at Fukushima. Various systems are being examined including borate and borosilicate glasses. We determined that zeolitic adsorbents can be successfully encapsulated within Pb based glasses with very low processing temperatures and that combined analytical decay codes and Monte-Carlo radiation transport modelling can be used to calculate the heat output of compositionally diverse nuclear wasteforms. |
| Exploitation Route | This may help in future where water is contaminated with radionuclides including UK locations. |
| Sectors | Energy,Environment |
| Description | The work was concerned with the development of wasteforms for the immobilisation of adsorbents used in effluent water treatment as part of the clean-up following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident. During use these adsorbents become contaminated with highly active but relatively short lived radionuclides. As part of this project, inventory calculations were conducted allowing the decay of these nuclides to be predicted and consequently the compositional changes experienced by the waste over its life. These supported the choices made in the experimental component of the work. The decay studies demonstrated that the activity and heat output of the waste diminished over a sufficiently short timespan that it became reasonable for the wasteform to be stored in an actively monitored surface facility for the most challenging part of its life. This supported the experimental decision to design wasteforms that emphasised low processing temperature over outright durability. Therefore, a useful result of the work is to demonstrate how such modelling predictions can be used to justify an experimental programme of work. Perhaps more importantly, the development of wasteforms with lower processing temperatures, now provided the opportunity to minimise the potential release of radioactive Cs-137 into the environment. This grant was also important in furthering collaboration between institutions both within the UK and abroad. Three different wasteform concepts were developed for the project. These showed quite different approaches to solving the same problem. This led to a spirit of friendly competition between the Imperial, Sheffield and our collaborators in Japan. The effect of this was to strengthen collaborative links and to improve the scientific rigour of the work produced. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
| Sector | Energy,Environment |
| Description | A new precision cutting saw for radiological materials science |
| Amount | £10,990 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2016 |
| End | 03/2017 |
| Description | DECC - MIDAS capital grant |
| Amount | £800,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Department of Energy and Climate Change |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2015 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | EPSRC UK-Japan Nuclear Research Call - Advanced Waste Management Strategies for High Dose Spent Absorbents |
| Amount | £435,120 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 11/2015 |
| End | 03/2018 |
| Description | UoS & Suppliers - MIDAS equipment match |
| Amount | £335,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | University of Sheffield |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2015 |
| End | 03/2016 |
| Description | Collaboration with ESRF XMAS and DUBBLE beamlines |
| Organisation | European Synchrotron Radiation Facility |
| Country | France |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Extended application focus of beamline techniques to XAS data acquistion in the hard X-ray regime. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Beamline optimisation to acquire XAS data from glass and ceramic materials in support of plutonium disposition. |
| Impact | See publications section. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Description | Collaboration with Kyushu University |
| Organisation | Kyushu University |
| Department | Department of Applied Quantum Physics and Nuclear Engineering |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Glass formulation design and characterisation for conditioning of high dose spent adsorbents at the Fukushima site. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Formulation and characterisation of hot isostatically pressed ceramic wasteforms for high dose spent adsorbents at the Fukushima site. |
| Impact | See research publications. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Collaboration with Tohoku University |
| Organisation | Tohoku University |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Glass formulation design and characterisation for conditioning of high dose spent adsorbents at the Fukushima site. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Formulation and characterisation of hot isostatically pressed ceramic wasteforms for high dose spent adsorbents at the Fukushima site. |
| Impact | See publications section. |
| Start Year | 2015 |
| Description | Dimitri Pletser Hitachi Secondment |
| Organisation | Hitachi |
| Country | Japan |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Study of Cs and Sr volatilisation from simulant spent adsorbents during processing to glass composite material wasteform. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Use of facilities and expertise. |
| Impact | Due to start in July 2016. |
| Start Year | 2016 |
| Title | Radioactive Heating Tool |
| Description | A key output of the work was the development of a heating prediction tool. This is a piece of software was developed during the work based around CERN's GEANT-IV radiation transport toolkit. The tool has been designed to be flexible enough to allow accurate heating predictions to be made for arbitrary wasteform compositions and waste package shapes. |
| Type Of Technology | Software |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | It is hoped that the heating tool will find application beyond the current project. To this end work is ongoing to allow its public release. The intention of this is to provide a useful design tool that can help in the optimisation of parameters such as waste-loading and waste package shape and size. Ultimately this will support cost reduction in nuclear waste disposal by providing scientists and engineers the information they need to make better use of the space inside any expensive geological disposal facility that is constructed. |
| Description | Collaboration building seminar on thermal treatment of radioactive wastes with leading researchers from Japan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Research seminar involving ca. 30 leading researchers from Japan and University of Sheffield to explore opportunities for collaboration in thermal treatment of radioactive wastes. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Feature article on Fukushima and Chernobyl related research sponsored by EPSRC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Feature interview in Sheffield Star and Sheffield Telegraph on radioactive waste management research, with particular focus on applications at Chernobyl and Fukushima. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | http://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/star-interview-with-richard-blackledge-how-sheffield-expert... |
| Description | MRS Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XL |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Organised flagship 40th anniversary MRS symposium on scientific basis for nuclear waste management, showcasing research in multiple EPSRC sponsored projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| Description | Radio interview on Fukushima decommissioning and our related research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Radio interview on Fukushima decommissioning and our related EPSRC sponsored research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://sputniknews.com/radio_world_in_focus/201703061051319142-hollande-le-pen-turkey-syrian-kurds-... |
| Description | Sheffield scientists pioneer new method for managing radioactive waste |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Television interview as part of World Science day, discussing radioactive waste management research associated with EPSRC sponsored projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://vimeo.com/191056195 |
| Description | UK-Japan Phase 2: Wasteforms for Fukushima-Daiichi High Dose Spent Adsorbents", EPSRC - Foreign and Commonwealth Office UK-Japan Networking Event, 26th March 2017, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Tokyo, Japan |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation summarising the activity conducted for the grant given to academics and government officials in Tokyo. The event was designed to encourage networking between UK and Japanese academics in order to promote new research collaborations in nuclear research. New links were made between the researchers on this project and new academic contacts both in Japan and also at UK universities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |