Name: Charles Hutchison
Supervisors: Prof Bill Lee
Sponsor: EPSRC and Sellafield
This project examines Glass Composite Materials (GCMs), which may contain several crystalphases, as wasteforms for some of the Difficult Intermediate level Wastes from the Legacy Ponds and Furloes at Sellafield. The GCMs has been made by Plasma Vitrification and Joule Heated In-Container Vitrification (JHICV). Standard characterisation techniques such as XRD, SEM and EDX are being used to determine the phases in GCMs before and after leach studies, in varying conditions. This will allow tracking of how crystalline components affect the durability and ultimately whether these GCMs can be safely disposed of.