Appraisal of a cementitious material for waste disposal: neutron imaging studies of pore structure and sorptivity.

Cementitious materials are conventionally used in conditioning intermediate and low level radioactive waste. In this study a candidate cement-based wasteform has been investigated using neutron imaging to characterise the wasteform for disposal in a repository for radioactive materials. Imaging showed both the pore size distribution and the extent of the cracking that had occurred in the samples. The rate of the water penetration measured both by conventional sorptivity measurements and neutron imaging was greater than in pastes made from Ordinary Portland Cement. The ability of the cracks to distribute the water through the sample in a very short time was also evident. The study highlights the significant potential of neutron imaging in the investigation of cementitious materials. The technique has the advantage of visualising and measuring, non-destructively, material distribution within macroscopic samples and is particularly useful in defining movement of water through the cementitious materials. © 2010, Elsevier Ltd

Durability of a cementitious materials in waste disposal studies: integration of neutron tomography studies with other physical and chemical techniques.

To characterise and to evaluate the durability, structural properties and sorptivity of a candidate wasteform for ILW and gain an understanding of the factors that control water movement through the matrix and the matrix and the resultant degradation process.http://cement08.in2p3.fr/Presentation%20Workshop%20pour%20site%20web/Tuesday%2014/AM/Mc%20GLINN.pdfIN2P3; Laboratoire SUBATECH; ONDRAF/NIRAS; ANDRA; ATILH; U|B; ICB; Universite De Nantes; CNRS; Eccle Des Mines De Nante