Relevance of the choice of spark plasma sintering parameters in obtaining a suitable microstructure for iodine-bearing apatite designed for the conditioning of I-129

The high chemical durability of iodine-bearing apatite phases makes them potentially attractive for immobilizing radioactive iodine. Reactive spark plasma sintering provides a dense ceramic as a wasteform. A design-of-experiments (DOE) approach was adopted to identify the main process/material parameters and their first order interactions in order to specify experimental conditions guaranteeing complete reaction, relative density of the wasteform exceeding 92% and the largest possible grain size. For a disposal of the wasteform in a deep geological repository, these characteristics allow minimization of the iodine release by contact with groundwater. It was found that sintering at a temperature of 450 °C with an initial specific surface area of 3.3 m2 g−1 for the powder reactants is sufficient in itself to achieve the targeted characteristics of the wasteform. However, this relies on a liquid sintering regime the efficiency of which can be limited by the lead iodide initial content in the mix as well as by its particle size.