Nuclear waste treatment by vitrification Transformation of highly radioactive liquid waste into solid waste An atomic scale incorporation of radionucleides (RN) Production of glass canisters at La Hague reprocessing plant Laboratory scale R&D at CEA Marcoule Ceramics for specific wastes still under research Multi-scale glass characterization methodology : XRD, SEM images for glass homogeneity Thermal analysis, viscosity, oxygen pressure, thermal and electrical conductivity Alteration rate by water Context Glass structure determination Ceramic structure determination Goal : Determining the structure of simplified glass Growing the complexity of the glass Looking at structure deviation when crystallizations occur Modelization of the structure Facilities : X’Pert MPD Pro with Mo tube reflection geometry TsiganX software analysis Atomic conditioning of RN into glass structure Pair function distribution of BaCa(CO 3 ) 2 barytocalcite For 14 C conditioning Nicolas Massoni, Olivier Bouty CEA Marcoule, DEN/DTCD/SECM, BP 17171, Bagnols sur cèze Cedex Total scattering analyses of glass and ceramics in the context of nuclear waste containment In France, spent nuclear fuel is reprocessed to separate final wastes from uranium and plutonium oxide. Fission products are extracted and conditioned into glass recognized for its good long term behavior. Iodine 129 I or carbon 14 C are also long-lived radionucleides coming from spent fuel reprocessing but they are not contained in the nuclear glass. At present, research is performed for iodine and carbon which could be immobilized into ceramics, respectively apatite [1] or barytocalcite [2]. These ceramics and simplified glass were synthesized by modification of the usual precursors. They show a slight deviation from the pristine materials requiring a deeper understanding of their structures. Thus total scattering analysis has been successfully employed with a lab diffractometer equipped with a Mo source. About ceramics, a modified apatite using a new precursor has been synthesized and the PDF determined using PedfGetX2 [3]. The comparison of the PDF between pristine and modified apatite clearly shows a modification of the interatomic distances. Modelling of the structure was performed with PDFgui [4]. A barytocalcite sample has been also analyzed. It allows us to check that no local deviation from average density was present but also successful modelling allows us to get more precise atomic coordinates. Concerning glass, two simplified glass ‘SiLiO’ and ‘SiBaO’ have been synthesized and the PDF determined using TsiganX [5]. It shows well-known silicate pairs and also new pairs which should be attributed by literature values or adequate modelling. Abstract [1] - C. Guy et al., CR. Phys. 3, 827, (2002). [2] - A. Grandjean et al., J. of Nuc. Mat. 345, 11, (2005). [3] - Qiu, X. and Thompson, J. W. and Billinge, S. J. L. J. Appl. Crystal. 37, 678, (2004). [4] - C. L. Farrow, P. Juhás, J. W. Liu, D. Bryndin, E. S. Božin, J. Bloch, Th. Proffen and S. J. L. Billinge, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 19, , (2007). [5] - Goal : Looking at structure deviation when substitution occur Modelization of the structure Facilities : X’Pert MPD Pro with Mo tube reflection geometry PDFGetX2 and PDFgui softwares P-O 1,55 Å P-O 1,60 Å 1,28 Å ? Ca-O 2,46 Å 2,84 Å O-O (Iodate) Pair function distribution of two apatites: Ca 10 (PO 4 ) 6 I 2 apatite “Ha-Ca” Ca 10 (PO4) 6 (IO 3 ) 2 apatite “HA-CaI” For 129 C conditioning r → No deviation at short distances → New peak at 1.28Å appears for IO 3 -apatite Outlook : Modelization of the structure Proposal for high energy WAXS at ESRF Me 10 (XO 4 ) 6 Y 2 apatite structure Na O Si Al B Zr → Importance of the glass structure Glass elaboration facilities Simplified glass « CJ1 » : (SiO 2 ) 0,67 (Na 2 O) 0,14 (B 2 O 3 ) 0,18 www-tsiganx.cea.fr Outlook : Modelization of the structure for pairs matching 4 and more oxides incorporation Gaussian functions superposition SiO 2, B 2 O 3, X 2 O with X= Li, Na, K, Cs SiO 2, B 2 O 3, Na 2 O, Eu 2 O 3 SiO 2, B 2 O 3, Na 2 O, Al 2 O 3, CaO SiO 2, Li 2 O (+MoO 3 ) SiO 2, BaO (+La 2 O 3 ) SiO 2, Na 2 O (+CaO) Glass analyzed Oven Nuclear glass PDF of other glass Atomic pair density function of CJ1