Annual Report 2015 / Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal. (KIT
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KIT SCIENTIFIC REPOrts 7725 Annual Report 2015 Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung H. Geckeis, M. Altmaier, S. Fanghänel (eds.) H. Geckeis, M. Altmaier, S. Fanghänel (eds.) Annual Report 2015 Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 7725 Annual Report 2015 Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung by H. Geckeis, M. Altmaier, S. Fanghänel (eds.) Report-Nr. KIT-SR 7725 The Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal, INE, (Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung) belongs to the KIT Energy Center. The KIT Energy Center with its 1100 employees is one of the largest energy research centers in Europe. It bundels the energy research activities of the KIT, the merger of the former Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe and Universität Karlsruhe and reknown cooperation partners. By this, it crosses the lines between disciplines and combines fundamental and applied research in all relevant energies for industry, household, service and mobility. The involved institutes and research groups conduct the research work on their own authority. The joining of subjects, the interdisciplinary collaboration of scientists, and the common use of high-end devices and installations, develops a new quality of research and teaching. The KIT Energy Center develops solutions in energy technology from a single source and acts as a highly valuable consultancy institution for politics, business, and society in all questions of energy. (http://www.energy.kit.edu/) Impressum Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) KIT Scientific Publishing Straße am Forum 2 D-76131 Karlsruhe KIT Scientific Publishing is a registered trademark of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Reprint using the book cover is not allowed. www.ksp.kit.edu This document – excluding the cover, pictures and graphs – is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 DE License (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/ The cover page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives 3.0 DE License (CC BY-ND 3.0 DE): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/de/ Print on Demand 2017 ISSN 1869-9669 DOI: 10.5445/KSP/1000061835 Foreword Prof. Dr. Horst Geckeis Director of the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal Within the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers (HGF) the third period of Program oriented funding (POFIII) started in January 2015 and the respective proposal for the NUSAFE (Nuclear waste manage- ment, safety and radiation research) program defines KIT-INE’s research roadmap for the next years. The new president of the Helmholtz association, Prof. Wiestler, has clearly emphasized that the grand societal challenges related to the decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the disposal of radioactive waste will be a constituent of the strategic future concept of the HGF. The safe phase-out of nuclear energy represents an important component of the German “Energiewende” process and, thus, calls for provident research in this respect as well as education and training of young scientists. The fact that scientific expertise and know-how in the field of nuclear waste management will be definitely required for the next decades is also politically recognized. During their visits of INE laboratories in 2015, Helmfried Meinel, ministerial director and Gerrit Niehaus, head of the nuclear energy oversight and radiation protection section, both at the Ministry for Environment, Climate and Energy Economy of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg, as well as Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) emphasized the need for respective efforts. We can take these statements as a strong motivation for shaping INE research for the coming years! 2015 represents an interesting and successful year for INE: 10 PhD students defended their theses very success- fully which reflects the strong interest of young scientists in nuclear waste disposal topics and which demon- strates the attractive research profile and leading edge research opportunities at INE. Research topics covered by those theses ranged from radionuclide release behavior from high active waste forms through actinide and long- lived fission product aquatic chemistry topics, geochemical aspects of radionuclide migration and coupled reac- tive transport phenomena up to actinide coordination chemistry with organic ligands of different origin and the development of novel highly sensitive analytical and spectroscopic methods for radionuclide speciation charac- terization. I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate to all young scientists for their excellent work, which partly is described in the report in hand! Furthermore, the positive evolution of publication record during 2015 together with the very successful acquisi- tion of quite a number of third party funded projects (EU, BMBF, BMWi, BfS, etc.) document inter alia the strong accomplishments of INE scientists. Without their commitment and motivation, INE would not be able to keep its international reputation. INE scientists were strongly involved in the organization of international con- ferences and workshops such as the XAFS16 conference in Karlsruhe with more than 550 participants, the 15th International Conference on the Chemistry and Migration Behavior of Actinides and Fission Products in the Geosphere (MIGRATION 2015) in Santa Fe, USA, with more than 250 participants, the international workshop on ABC salt (actinide brine chemistry) and HITAC (High Temperature Actinide Chemistry) together with the university of Heidelberg and the GENTLE (Graduate and Executive Nuclear Training and Lifelong Education) intersemester course funded by the European Commission. Dr. Bernhard Kienzler finally stepped down from his position as the head of the INE department Safety of Nu- clear Waste Disposal entering his regular retirement age and Dr. Volker Metz became his successor. Bernhard Kienzler has always been a continuously driving force for initiating and coordinating very successfully new projects on a national and international level. INE owes a lot to him! We are glad, that he agreed to stay for a while as an excellent expert on the scene transferring his advice, experience and knowledge. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to our numerous partners, visitors and collaborators. Last, but not least, I extend a sincere thank you to the entire staff of INE for their dedication in both scientific activities and in administrative and technical support. Table of contents 1 Introduction to the Institute for Nuclear Waste Disposal (INE) ................................ 1 2 Education and training ................................................................................................... 5 3 National and international cooperation, conferences and workshops ....................... 7 3.1 General overview .......................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Contribution of INE to the FP7 TALISMAN project ................................................................. 12 3.3 XAFS16 conference .................................................................................................................... 14 3.4 CMS Euroclay 2015 .................................................................................................................... 15 4 Fundamental studies: Process understanding on a molecular scale ........................ 17 4.1 Chemistry and thermodynamics of actinides and fission products in aqueous solution ............. 17 4.2 Sorption on mineral surfaces ....................................................................................................... 24 4.3 Retention of radionuclides by secondary phase formation ......................................................... 31 4.4 Effect of pore-scale mineral precipitation on transport parameters in diffusion controlled systems ....................................................................................................................................... 37 5 Applied studies: Radionuclide retention in the multi-barrier system ..................... 41 5.1 Highly radioactive waste forms .................................................................................................. 41 5.2 Non-heat producing waste forms and barrier materials .............................................................. 45 5.3 Colloid impact on radionuclide migration .................................................................................. 49 5.4 Reactive transport modelling ...................................................................................................... 53 6 Separation of long-lived minor actinides .................................................................... 57 6.1 Water soluble complexing agents for actinides(III) .................................................................... 57 6.2 Dissolution of PuO2-Mo CerMet pellets ..................................................................................... 59 6.3 REE separation ............................................................................................................................ 60 7 Decommissioning of nuclear facilities ......................................................................... 63 8 Development of radionuclide