Online measurement of the atmosphere around geopolymers under gamma irradiation

The gas production of wasteforms is a major safety concern for encapsulating active nuclear wastes. For geopolymers and cements, the H(2)produced by radiolytic processes is a key factor because of the large amount of water present in their porous structure. Herein, the gas composition evolution around geopolymers was monitored online under(60)Co gamma irradiation. The transient evolution of the hydrogen release yield was measured for samples with different formulations. Its evolution and the final values are consistent with the presence of a pseudo-first-order chemical reaction consuming hydrogen in the samples. The results show that this phenomenon can significantly reduce the hydrogen source term of geopolymer wasteform provided their diffusion coefficient remains low. Lower hydrogen production rates and faster kinetics were observed with geopolymer formulations in which pore water pH was higher. Besides hydrogen release, a steady oxygen consumption was observed for all geopolymer samples. The oxygen consumption rates are proportional to the diffusion coefficients estimated in the modelization of hydrogen recombination by a pseudo-first-order reaction.