Recent Evaluation of Early Radioactive Disposal Practice

Introductory Chapter: Properties and Applications of Cement- Based Materials

“…The application of cement-based material in environmental protection and restoration is increasing, and they are used in radiation shielding in nuclear industry, cutoff walls in remediation activities, stabilization of contaminated soil, engineering barriers in disposal facilities, and waste immobilization matrices [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. This wide range of applications is supported by their technical properties, where they have low diffusion coefficients and have available sorption sites; their alkaline environments reduce the mobility of different contaminants and flexibility of modification.…”

“…In nuclear and radioactive waste industries, they are used as shield due to their good selfshielding performance, and they are suitable to solidify different radioactive waste streams, that is, sludge, emulsified organic liquid, fragmented solids, and exhausted ion exchangers, due to their chemical, radiological, thermal, mechanical, and physical stability. The economic value of these materials plays an important role in their widespread applications, as they are inexpensive and readily available, and has reduced operational cost (which is related to the simplicity of operation and operation at ambient temperature) [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. To ensure the sustainability of these materials for the intended use, they need to be tested to evaluate their strength, radiation, biological and thermal stabilities, free water content, porosity, permeability, corrosion, leaching, dissolution rates, and release mechanisms.…”