| Abstract Scope |
Nuclear waste form development has evolved behind a regulatory history that has motivated different approaches to designing, testing, and evaluating waste form materials. Many of the challenges related to vitreous waste forms are well-known whereas, comparatively less fundamental understanding is available for ceramic and other non-vitreous waste forms. New approaches to material synthesis combined with recent advances in computational and experimental approaches, provide the foundation and pathway to address waste immobilization challenges. The Center for Hierarchal Waste Form Materials (CHWM) was created to conduct fundamental research to develop the chemistry and structure motifs needed to create materials that effectively immobilize nuclear waste in novel, persistent architectures. Recent progress and advancements made towards the development of transuranic containing structures will be presented. Experiment, characterization, and modeling of oxide and fluoride systems will be discussed. |