Uptake of actinides by calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) phases

Abstract The sorption of actinides (Th, U – Am) was studied in dependence of the solid-to-liquid (S/L) ratio (0.5–20.0 g/L) and the calcium-to-silicon (C:S) ratio. The C:S ratio was varied between 1.80 and 0.70 to simulate the changing composition of the C-S-H phases during cement degradation from high to low C:S ratios. The decrease of the calcium content in the C-S-H phases by time is accompanied by a decrease in pH in the corresponding suspensions from 12.6 to 10.2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of the C-S-H phases showed an increasing depletion of Ca on the surface with increasing C:S ratio in comparison to the composition of the solid phase as a whole. The sorption experiments…