High-level waste

Engineering

Yield (engineering)

Radioactive waste

Metallurgy

Materials science

Nuclear physics

Durability

Chemical engineering

Dissolution

Waste management

Physics

Nuclear engineering

Political science

Environmental science

Composite material

Closure (psychology)

Andrology

Medicine

Vitrification

Forensic engineering

npj Materials Degradation

Standard methods to assess the durability of vitrified radioactive waste were first developed in the 1980’s and, over the last 40 years, have evolved to yield a range of responses depending on experimental conditions and glass composition. Mechanistic understanding of glass dissolution has progressed in parallel, enhancing our interpretation of the data acquired. With the implementation of subsurface disposal for vitrified radioactive waste drawing closer, it is timely to review the available standard methodologies and reflect upon their relative advantages, limitations, and how the data obtained can be interpreted to support the post-closure safety case for radioactive waste disposal.

Forty years of durability assessment of nuclear waste glass by standard methods