“There are difficult issues in understanding how materials corrode over really long time spans,” said Gerald FrankelExternal link, director of the Center for Performance and Design of Nuclear Waste Forms and Containers (WastePD). “These are scientific issues,” he continued. “That’s why we need fundamental science.” Frankel, an Ohio State University professor, focuses that scientific lens on glass, ceramics, and metals used to trap Cold War leftovers, including ~90 million gallons of radioactive liquid and sludge (like wet beach sand). Solidifying the waste as glass or ceramics keeps it from leaking into soil and groundwater. The solid form holds the waste in for thousands of years, giving the radioactive matter time to decay to safer levels.
USDoE 27th March 2019 read more »
