Release of boron and cesium or uranium from simulated borosilicate waste glasses through a compacted Ca-bentonite layer

The long-term release behavior of some elements from simulated borosilicate waste glasses (S-, K- and A-glass) in contact with a domestic compacted Ca-bentonite block and synthetic granitic groundwater at 80°C under argon atmosphere has been studied by dynamic leach tests since 1997 at KAERI. S- and K-glass differ mainly in their aluminum content, and A-glass contains 19.35 wt% UO2 instead of fission product elements. Up to the present, the mass loss is almost the same as the normalized boron loss. This means that boron is an indicator on the dissolution of borosilicate waste glass. The leach rates of boron from K- and S-glasses after 861 days were approximately 3.1×10−2 and 3.0×10−2 g/m2 day, respectively. However, the release rates of cesium through the bentonite block from K- and S-glasses were about 1/10th of the release rate of boron, which were almost the same around 2.5×10−3 g/m2 day. This may be due to their adsorption on the bentonite. The leach rate of boron from the A-glass was about 5.4×10−2, but the leach rate of uranium from the A-glass specimen was quite low, below 4×10−7 g/m2 day. The low concentration of uranium in the leachates suggests that it hardly moves in a compacted bentonite block. By the EPMA, a yellowish uranium compound was deposited on the surface of the bentonite in contact with the A-glass specimen. The species of this phase should be identified to understand the release mechanism of uranium.