Tungsten bronze-based nuclear waste form ceramics. Part 3: The system Cs0.3MxW1−xO3 for the immobilization of radio cesium

Previous studies in this series have indicated that Cs- and Sr-loaded Mo-doped hexagonal tungsten bronze (MoW-HTB) oxides, either in the form of fine grained powders, or as composite granules, can be converted to leach resistant ceramics at modest temperatures in the range 600–1200 °C. In the present study it has been shown that such waste form ceramics can also be readily prepared through very simple conventional routes involving the blending of cesium nitrate with tungstic acid and other oxide components followed by heating in air. The phase chemistry resulting from the blending of these oxides has been explored. In the Cs0.3MxW1−xO3 compositional system where x = Ti, Zr, Nb and Ta the solid solution limit has been found to be where x = 0.2. For all values of x between 0 and 0.2 mixed phase materials of HTB and WO3 were obtained and Cs was found associated with HTB phases that are both rich and depleted in M element. At temperatures above about 1000 °C, phase pure HTB compounds in the space group P63/mcm were obtained. Even when x greatly exceeds 0.2, the additional oxide content did not interfere with the formation of the HTB phase. Durability of the Cs0.3MxW1−xO3 compositions as gauged by the fractional Cs loss in de-mineralized water was lowest when M = Ti and Nb, and greatest when M = Zr. From these results the durability appears intimately linked with the unit cell a-dimension which in turn varies with M cation radius.