XAS and XRF investigation of an actual HAWC glass fragment obtained from the Karlsruhe vitrification plant (VEK)

Several sections of HAWC glass rods remaining at the end of glass pouring at the Karlsruhe Vitrification Plant (VEK) were retained during vitrification operation in 2009-2010 and transferred to the KIT-INE shielded box line for later glass product characterization. A mm sized fragment with a contact dose rate of ∼590 μSv/h was selected for pilot XAS/XRF investigations at the INE-Beamline for actinide science at the ANKA synchrotron radiation source. The experiment was aimed at elucidating the potential of direct radionuclide speciation with an emphasis on the fission products Se and Tc in highly active nuclear materials and at assessing the possible influence of the γ-radiation field surrounding highly active samples on the beamline instrumentation. While the influence of γ-radiation turned out to be negligible, initial radionuclide speciation studies by XAFS were most promising. In addition to Se and Tc speciation, the focus of these initial investigations was on the possibility for direct actinide speciation by recording corresponding L3-edge XAFS data. The registration of high quality XANES data was possible for the actinide elements U, Np, Pu and Am, as well as for Zr.