Study on the leaching behavior of salt waste forms prepared by using zeolite and lime glass

When the reaction of salt and zeolite was used to minimize the free salt in waste forms (r = 0.1), Cs showed the lowest leaching rate, 1.015 × 10−1 g/m2 d. Because alkali chloride is chemically stable, the reaction that alkali elements become components of glass does not happen and thus the leach resistance of the waste form solidified with soda glass was not much different from that solidified with borosilicate glass. The crystalline phase containing Cl was sodalite, but the tendency that Cs exists prior to sodalite phase was not confirmed. From a result of a long-term leaching, the predicted leaching fraction of Cs in 900 days was as high as 5.13%, but that of Sr was as low as 0.24%. The leaching experiment with a varying pH showed the major nuclides such as Cs, Sr, and Li in salt waste had different leaching characteristics each other.