Cambridge 7th to 9th September
Presenting Author:
Paul Bingham
<p.a.bingham@shu.ac.uk>
article posted 14 Mar 2015
PaulBingham
Dr Paul A. Bingham joined Sheffield Hallam University in January 2012 as a Senior Lecturer in Materials Engineering. Paul has previously worked in both academia and in industry, following his doctorate studies. His research comprises both fundamental and applied aspects of materials, with an emphasis on glasses and ceramics. Paul's particular research interests lie at the interfaces between materials science, engineering, physics, energy and the environment and through his research he aims to develop solutions to real-world problems and particularly those posed by climate change, future energy supply and environmental remediation. Paul has developed environmentally-friendly glasses (lower energy, CO2, NOx) that have achieved successful trials and full-scale commercial production. He has also developed novel glass and ceramic materials for radioactive and toxic waste immobilization and for energy applications.
Incorporation of sulphate ions in silicate glasses
with implications for radioactive waste immobilisation
Shuchi Vaishnav1, Paul A. Bingham*,1 and Emma R. Barney2
Vitrification is a potential treatment option for several types of HLW and ILW arising as residues after spent fuel processing and site decommissioning. The high content of anions such as sulphate (SO42-) which is present in some of these wastes can limit the waste loading of the glass wasteform (thereby increasing wasteform volume) and can pose problems due to water soluble secondary phase formation. In our work we aim to better understand the mechanisms underlying the incorporation of sulphate ions in glass and to develop better wasteforms as a result. Here we present the results of initial laboratory scale trial vitrification studies using simple binary and ternary silicate glass compositions with and without sulphate doping. The incorporation and speciation of SO42- in R2O-SiO2 and R2O-MO-SiO2 (where R=Na, Li and M=Ba, Ca) has been investigated. Initial results and conclusions based on neutron diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, compositional analysis and X-Ray Diffractometry, will be presented here.
Institutions:
1 Materials and Engineering Research Institute, Sheffield Hallam University, City Campus, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB, UK
2 Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK