The effect of experimental conditions and evaluation techniques on the alteration of low activity glasses by vapor hydration

Abstract The vapor hydration test (VHT) is used to study the reaction between waste forms and water with the aim to gain insight into their alteration behavior. In nuclear-waste immobilization, the test is primarily used as a screening tool to identify durable/non-durable glasses and as a convenient method to generate and identify alteration products for use in performance modeling. The lack of a standard procedure for conducting this test has resulted in a number of reported test methods, thus decreasing the ability to directly compare test results from different sources. To optimize the VHT procedure, a series of tests was conducted on simulated low activity waste (LAW) glasses at temperatures ranging from 150 to 300 °C with different volumes of water, specimen holders, specimen-preparation techniques, and data-evaluation methods. Reaction progress was monitored by measuring the thickness of the remaining glass and the alteration layer. The alteration rate at which glass is converted into the alteration products was determined by linear regression from the remaining glass thickness plotted as a function of time. The resulting procedure for conducting VHT eliminates problems associated with the measurement of alteration layers and enables direct comparison of alteration rates for different materials.