Safe, efficient cementation of challenging radioactive wastes using alkali activated materials with high-flowability and high-anion retention capacity

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In this project, we will collaboratively develop, optimise and scale-up new high-performing geopolymer cements for use in the solidification of sludge wastes that have been generated in the Fukushima Daiichi cleanup and remediation process. These wastes contain a complicated and problematic combination of radioactive elements, and are currently stored in containers awaiting final treatment (conditioning). Before the wastes can be disposed, they must be converted to a solid form, but the conventional cement blends that would usually be used for this purpose require modification or improvement so that they can give appropriate performance in making the wastes safe. For this reason, we will develop, optimise, and scale-up a set of bespoke, innovative geopolymer-type cements, produced from aluminosilicate clays, to give excellent fluidity and mixing characteristics that will enable them to be fully effective in solidifying the sludges, and outstanding performance in the long-term to prevent the release of immobilised radioactive materials. We will determine key new fundamental scientific aspects that control the materials science and chemistry of geopolymer cements in combination with iron-rich sludges, which will bring new understanding of these materials that can also be transferred to benefit other uses of geopolymer cements in nuclear and non-nuclear applications. We will work in partnership with industry to demonstrate these materials, and the associated processes for their usage, at a scale that is large enough to validate the use of this new procedure directly in the Fukushima cleanup operations. In this way, we will use advanced materials science to benefit future generations.