Plutonium Immobilization Form Development Interim and Final Data Report Summaries

Contained within this report are summaries of the available interim and final data summary reports provided by ANSTO, ANL, LLNL, and WSRC in support of work in the Form Development activity in the Plutonium Immobilization Development and Testing Program. Milestone reports and technical papers prepared for journals or conference proceedings are not included in this list. This document covers work from about 1997 to the present. All of the following reports are available from the Plutonium Immobilization Program Document Control Center (DCC) at LLNL. In most cases, the documents can also be obtained from the libraries the originating site or from the document's authors. All samples of the various formulations discussed in the following summaries were prepared by one of four processes: Wet-milling, dry-milling, an alkoxide-nitrate process, or attritor milling. The fabrication processes differ primarily in the mixing steps. The wet milling process is the one most commonly used. It is a simple ball milling process where water is added that provides intimate mixing of the materials. The dry milling process is a worst case dry mixing process. The alkoxide-nitrate process provides for very intimate mixing and is used when equilibrium samples are desired. The attritor milling process simulates the process being developed for the Plutonium Immobilization Plant. After mixing, the subsequent calcination and consolidation steps are generally the same. Most samples were consolidated by cold pressing and sintering although some of the earlier samples or Some of the single-phase samples were prepared by hot pressing. The sample identification numbers (ID's) that are referenced in the summaries (e.g. A-0, B3-13, etc.) are described in the Sample Test Matrix (PIP-99-012 and PIP-00-016). Samples which contain both plutonium and uranium are given the designation Hf-Pu-U samples. When Ce was used as a surrogate for Pu, the designation is Hf-Ce-U. When Th was used as a surrogate for Pu, the designation is Hf-Th-U. When Ce was used as a surrogate for Pu and U, the designation is Hf-Ce-Ce. Lastly, when Zr was used as a surrogate for Hf and Ce was used as a surrogate for Pu and U, the designation is Zr-Ce-Ce