Ceramic Waste Forms for High-Level Radioactive Waste Management
Summary
High-level radioactive waste (HLW) poses a long-term challenge due to its high heat output and the persistence of long-lived radionuclides. Ceramic waste forms are crystalline or glass–ceramic matrices designed to immobilise HLW by incorporating radionuclides into robust lattices. Key ceramic families include fluorite, pyrochlore, zirconolite, perovskite and hollandite, each offering distinct chemical durability, radiation tolerance and capacity for actinide incorporation. Advanced consolidation methods such as spark plasma sintering and hot isostatic pressing produce dense, low-porosity monolithic ceramics. Recent efforts have focused on tailoring compositionally complex or high-entropy ceramics to balance multiple performance criteria. Fundamental studies on local versus long-range order reveal that subtle distortions and defect chemistries govern thermal conductivity, leaching resistance and phase stability. By integrating crystal chemistry, defect engineering and optimised processing, ceramic waste forms represent a promising route to secure geological disposal of HLW on a global scale.
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Ceramic Waste Forms for High-Level Radioactive Waste Management publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in ceramic waste forms for high-level radioactive waste management across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Ceramic waste form: A crystalline or glass–ceramic matrix engineered to immobilise radioactive waste within a durable lattice.
Pyrochlore structure: A cubic A2B2O7 framework in which A and B cations occupy distinct interpenetrating networks, accommodating diverse radionuclides and defects.
Fluorite structure: A cubic coordination motif typified by AX2 stoichiometry, allowing for extensive anion and cation disorder in defect variants.
Order–disorder transition: A reversible structural transformation between ordered and disordered phases, influencing stability and transport properties.
References
- Long- and short-range orders in 10-component compositionally complex ceramics. Advanced Powder Materials (2023).
- Pyrochlore-type lanthanide titanates and zirconates: Synthesis, structural peculiarities, and properties. Applied Physics Reviews (2024).
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