Journal of Pollution

Chemical Analysis of High-Level Nuclear Waste Elements Fixed in Sodium Zirconium Phosphate (NaZr₂P₃O₁₂) Matrix

Abstract

Rupesh Singh, Sajan CP and Amol Naik

High-level nuclear waste such as Caesium (Cs), Strontium (Sr), Tellurium (Te) and Ruthenium (Ru) was fixed in sodium zirconium phosphate (NZP) at very low temperature by adopting microwave synthesis. The quantity of substituted elements in the matrix was confirmed by dissolving doped NZP in a mixture of acids along with fusion mixture at 1073 K. The results obtained are not satisfactory for the elements like Cs and Te which are considerably volatile at this temperature. Hence microwave digestion method was adapted to obtained comparative data. Quantitative analysis of the solution was done by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Results acquired revealed that microwave dissolution method gives more accurate and appropriate result compare to conventional dissolution method.
This work describes not only fixation of elements in the matrix but also detection of the exact amount of element that got fixed in the NZP ceramic, which will open the new path in the field of the fixation of nuclear waste in the ceramic matrix.