Rapid and efficient disposal of radioactive contaminated soil using microwave sintering method

• Microwave was firstly employed to dispose the radioactive contaminated soil.
• The glass can be obtained by microwave at low temperature for short time.
• The samples obtained from microwave were denser than that of conventional.
• Nd can be successfully immobilized and uniformly distributed in glass waste forms.

To effectively dispose the radioactive contaminated soil, a new technology to immobilize radionuclide is desired. In this study, microwave sintering technology was employed to vitrify the radioactive contaminated soil waste and immobilize the radionuclide. Radioactive contaminated soil has been sintered by microwave and conventional processes. The glass waste forms can be obtained after microwave sintering at low temperature (1300 °C) for short time (30 min). The microwave sintered samples were denser than the samples conventionally sintered at higher temperature (1500 °C) for the longer time (2 h). Moreover, it was found that the simulated radionuclide Nd can be successfully immobilized and uniformly distributed in glass waste forms.