Fabrication of Curium-Doped SYNROC for an Alpha Radiation Stability Test

SYNROC blocks containing 1.61 wt% of the curium source were fabricated for an alpha radiation stability test using the calciner and the hot press, which were newly installed in the hot cell. The calciner could dry and then calcine the curium-doped SYNROC slurry with very little powder carryover. The calcined powder had pour and tap densities of 0.50 and 0.85 g·cm^-3, respectively. Four SYNROC blocks with almost equal densities (4.302 to 4.308 g·cm^-3) were fabricated by hot pressing.