Properties of radioactive wastes and waste containers. Quarterly progress report, October--December 1976. [Urea-formaldehyde; polymer; portland cement]

The cumulative quantities of free standing water resulting from the solidification of simulated wastes with urea-formaldehyde (UF) and portland type II cement were determined. The effect of the waste/solidification agent ratio on the cumulative free standing water for selected wastes solidified with...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Colombo, P., Neilson, R.M. Jr.
Language:unknown
Published: 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/7309235
https://www.osti.gov/biblio/7309235
https://doi.org/10.2172/7309235
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Summary:The cumulative quantities of free standing water resulting from the solidification of simulated wastes with urea-formaldehyde (UF) and portland type II cement were determined. The effect of the waste/solidification agent ratio on the cumulative free standing water for selected wastes solidified with UF was found to be related to sample shrinkage. Urea-formaldehyde decontamination factors for free standing water were determined with /sup 137/Cs, /sup 85/Sr, /sup 60/Co, and /sup 59/Fe. With the exception of /sup 85/Sr for which UF was shown to have a decontamination factor of 1.6-1.9, the specific activity of the free standing water was essentially equal to that of the waste prior to solidification. The release of cesium from UF in distilled water was measured by a static leaching technique. The effect of the leachant renewal interval and the ratio of the leachant volume (V/sub L/) to the sample external geometric surface area (S) was examined. The proposed leachant renewal interval of once/day and V/sub L/S = 10cm was found to be satisfactory for leaching of these samples. Samples of a proprietary polymer agent developed by the Dow Chemical Company were tested to determine water loss with exposure to ambient air, weight loss with temperature (TGA), thermal conductivity, compressive strength and impact strength. Property measurements were made for water/binder volume ratios of from 1.0 to 2.0. No deterioration was observed for a portland type II cement sample with a water/cement ratio of 0.5 by weight subjected to fifty freeze-thaw cycles.