Date of Award
Fall 2023
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Chemistry and Biochemistry
First Advisor
Hans-Conrad zur Loye
Abstract
The use of nuclear technology has proven useful for energy generation and for weapons manufacturing, but disposal and storage of nuclear waste is an ongoing problem. The accumulation of nuclear waste over the past decades has yielded a vast amount of waste that must be dealt with, and with space at interim storage facilities diminishing, it has become increasingly important to find solutions to nuclear waste storage. The vitrification process has been widely accepted as a viable route for immobilization of high-level waste; however, the process is inadequate for complex waste streams and has many drawbacks such as limited waste loading capacities, leaching, etc. To address this, researchers have focused on the development of new materials as prospective waste forms. More specifically, crystalline materials have been found to be promising candidates for nuclear waste storage applications. Crystal growth is an effective approach for novel materials discovery, as well as investigation of fundamental properties of materials. As a result of the diverse arrangements possible for structural units such as borate and silicate, many new phases exhibiting desirable properties or structure types are attainable. This approach presents an opportunity to study the fundamental properties of materials, and thus elucidating structure-property relationships arising from the underlying chemistry. Thus, this dissertation will focus on crystal growth techniques for use with actinides, as well as preparation and characterization of waste form-relevant phases.
Rights
© 2024, Adrian Thomas Hines
Recommended Citation
Hines, A. T.(2023). Investigation, Synthesis and Rational Design of Novel Transuranic Containing Extended Structures. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/7534