Radiation Effects in Silicate Glasses Pertinent to Their Application as a Radioactive Waste Storage Medium

A variety of radiation effects are delineated in complex silicate glasses: formation of centers, expansion, two kinds of contraction, surface alkali activation, and enhanced leaching. The intense energy deposition in the last fraction of the ranges of the actinide recoils appears to produce other effects than those from the diffuse energy deposition associated with the light ions and with ionization. Although there are other serious gaps in our knowledge of the radiation behavior of these materials, and the data available are rather limited, the most serious deficiency for waste management is the lack of adequate temporal and thermal data.