Toward Sustainable Cementitious Radioactive Waste Forms: Immobilization of Problematic Operational Wastes

Rehab O. Abdel Rahman and Michael I. Ojovan
Additional contact information
Rehab O. Abdel Rahman: Hot Laboratory Center, Atomic Energy Authority of Egypt, Cairo 13759, Egypt
Michael I. Ojovan: Department of Materials, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2AZ, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 21, 1-25

Abstract: Developing effective radioactive waste management practices is essential for ensuring the sustainability of the nuclear industry. The immobilization of radioactive wastes is one of the main activities conducted during the management of these wastes; it aims to produce a durable waste form that has sustainable performance over long periods of time. In this work, the challenges that face the design of durable cementitious waste forms are addressed for problematic operational wastes. In this respect, the problematic characteristics of evaporator concentrates, spent ion exchangers, and organic liquid wastes are overviewed, and the factors that affect the durability of their cementitious waste forms are identified. A summary of potential conventional and innovative cementitious matrices is presented by reviewing the cementation practices in national programs and recent research devoted to developing durable matrices. Finally, a guide to optimize the mix design of these waste forms was proposed that includes the selection of the testing procedure, factors that affect the waste form performance, and the optimization technique. This guide was presented with special focus on leaching tests, which are a means to test the stabilization performance of nuclear waste forms.

Keywords: radioactive waste; evaporator concentrates; spent ion exchangers; organic liquid wastes; conventional cement; innovative cement; mix design optimization; leaching tests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11992/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/21/11992/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:21:p:11992-:d:668117

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().