The use of glasses from archeological sites to understand the long-term alteration of nuclear waste glasses

Understanding the long-term behavior of nuclear waste glasses will assist in assuring that the release of radionuclides from a disposal facility will not exceed regulatory limits that are set to ensure the health and safety of the environment and public. Glass alteration behavior is assessed in accelerated laboratory tests, and the results are used in models to estimate glass performance in the disposal facility. Results from these tests, which may not be representative of disposal conditions, must be corroborated against alteration of analogue samples in the natural environment to validate models and assist in public and regulatory acceptance of the disposal site. In the present paper, we discuss three different sites where archeological and natural samples have been altered in environments relevant to disposal for more than one thousand years. These analogues have different chemistries and alteration environments that bound nuclear waste glass compositions and disposal conditions. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.).