DIFFUSION OF ACTINIDES IN NACL SINGLE-CRYSTALS AND IN REAL ROCK SALT

In order to provide missing data for storage of actinide containing solidified radioactive waste in deep underground dry geological formations such as salt domes, the tracer diffusion of U-233 was measured in single crystals of NaCl and in actual salt of a repository site (Asse mine in FR Germany). Experiments on interdiffusion between actinide-doped waste glasses and salt were also performed. The mean actinide penetration at the expected maximum temperature of the interface waste matrix/salt in 106 years is extrapolated to be ≤1 pm for volume diffusion and s a few pm for grain boundary diffusion. © 1991, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.