We present the potential use of expanded perlite, a metastable amorphous hydrated aluminum silicate, as a permanent medium for the long-term confinement of caesium. A simple loading by mixing an aqueous caesium nitrate solution and expanded perlite at 300 K followed by thermal annealing leads to 96% sintering. The formation of pollucite, CsAlSi 2 O 6 , a naturally occurring mineral phase, appears as the crystalline phase embedded in a glassy phase. Leaching tests on the resulting glass-ceramics reveal a very low Cs departure of 0.5 mg m −2 day −1 . This simple method seems to be a good way to permanently confine caesium issued from recycled nuclear waste.
We present the potential use of expanded perlite, a metastable amorphous hydrated aluminium silicate, as a permanent medium for the long-term confinement of cesium. The method requires simply a loading by mixing an aqueous cesium nitrate solution and expanded perlite at 300 K followed by densification by sintering. The formation of pollucite, CsAlSi 2 O 6 , a naturally occurring mineral phase, upon careful heat treatment is demonstrated by X-ray diffraction. Leaching tests on the resulting glass-ceramics reveal a very low Cs departure of 0.5 mg m −2 d −1 .
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