Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed Dec. 12, 2007). Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed Feb. 27, 2008). Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Syracuse University, 2005. / "Publication number AAT 3194009."

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Tens of thousands of metric tons of highly radioactive, nuclear waste have been generated in the United States. Currently, there is no treatment or disposal facility for these wastes. Of the radioactive elements in high-level nuclear waste, neptunium (Np) is of particular concern because it has a long half-life and may potentially be very mobile in groundwaters associated with a proposed underground disposal site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Aqueous Np concentrations observed in previous, short-term solubility experiments led to calculated potential doses exceeding proposed long-term regulatory limits. However, thermodynamic data for Np at 25°C showed that these observed aqueous Np concentrations were supersaturated with respect to crystalline NpO 2 . It was hypothesized that NpO 2 is the thermodynamically stable solid phase in aqueous solution, but it is slow to form in an aqueous solution of NpO 2 + on the time scale of previous experiments. The precipitation of NpO 2 would provide significantly lower aqueous Np concentrations leading to calculated doses below proposed regulatory limits. To test this hypothesis, solubility experiments were performed at elevated temperature to accelerate any slow precipitation kinetics. Ionic NpO 2 + (aq) was introduced into very dilute aqueous solutions of NaCl with initial pH values ranging from 6 to 10. The reaction vessels were placed in an oven and allowed to react at 200°C until steady-state aqueous Np concentrations were observed. In all cases, aqueous Np concentrations decreased significantly from the initial value of 10 −4 M. The solids that formed were analyzed by x-ray powder diffraction, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The solids were determined to be high-purity crystals of NpO 2 . This is the first time that crystalline NPO 2 has been observed to precipitate from NpO 2 + (aq) in near-neutral aqueous solutions. The results obtained demonstrate that Np will precipitate as NpO 2 in aqueous solutions thereby leading to significantly lower aqueous Np concentrations.

The topic of this doctoral thesis is the potential near field immobilization of the radionuclide 79Se after intrusion of groundwater into a spent nuclear fuel canister in a repository. 79Se is a non naturally occurring long lived selenium isotope formed as a result of fission in nuclear fuel. Given the long half life (~3 x 105 y) and that the oxyanions of selenium are expected to be highly mobile and potentially difficult toimmobilize the isotope is of interest for the long term safety assessment of high level waste repositories. In this work the near field has been limited to the study of processes at or near the UO2 surface of (simulated) spent nuclear fuel and to processes occurring at or near the surface of iron (canister material) corroding under anoxic conditions. Selenite (HSeO32-) was found to adsorb onto palladium (simulated noble metal inclusion in spent nuclear fuel). Under hydrogen atmosphere selenite was reduced to elemental selenium with a rate constant of ~2 x 10-9 m s-1 (with respect to the Pd surface, 24 bar H2) forming colloidal particles. The rate constant of selenite reduction was increased by about two orders of magnitude to ~2.5 x 10-7 m s-1 (with respect to the Pd surface, 10 bar H2) for a UO2 surface doped with Pd particles, indicating that UO2 is an efficient co-catalyst to Pd. Selenate (SeO42-) was neither adsorbed nor reduced in the presence of Pd, UO2 and hydrogen. In the iron corrosion studies selenate was found to become reduced to predominantly elemental Se in the presence of a pristine iron surface. Iron covered by a corrosion layer of magnetite did however appear inert with respect to selenate whereas selenite was reduced. The reduction of dissolved uranyl into UO2 by the corroding iron surfaces was found to significantly increase the removal rate of selenite as well as selenate. The uranyl was found to transiently transform the outer iron oxide layers on the iron, forming a reactive mixed Fe(II)/Fe(III) oxyhydroxide (Green rust). Exchanging the solution and increasing the carbonate content (from 2 mM to 20 mM NaHCO3) only resulted in a minor, transient remobilization of uranium. Addition of H2O2 did however result in a significant release of uranium as well as selenium from the iron oxide surfaces. An irradiation experiment was also performed confirming the one electron reduction barrier of selenate as an important factor in systems where selenate reduction would be thermodynamically favorable. / QC 20101208

Nuclei at closed shells tend to be spherical and are well-described by the shell model, while those between closed shells are deformed and better described by collective models. The nuclei which are in transitional regions between spherical and deformed may be studied to gain insight into the nature of this transition. The stable isotopes of zirconium and xenon span such transitional regions and are the subject of this dissertation. Gamma-ray spectroscopy following inelastic neutron scattering has been performed on the stable isotopes of Zr as well as 132,134Xe at the University of Kentucky Accelerator Laboratory. Level lifetimes have been measured using the Doppler-shift attenuation method, which allow the determination of transition probabilities that are of utmost importance in elucidating the structure of these nuclei. The lifetime measurements were the focus of the study of the Zr isotopes. Previously measured level lifetimes in 94Zr by our group were called into question by recent electron scattering experiments. This motivated a re-measurement of these lifetimes and led to a study of the role of the chemical properties of the scattering samples employed in the measurements. Various Zr-containing compounds were characterized with powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy and were employed as scattering samples. These studies revealed the impact of using amorphous materials and those composed of small particles as scattering samples on the resulting lifetimes, and has important implications for future lifetime measurements employing the Doppler-shift attenuation method. For the xenon experiments, highly enriched (>99.9%) 132Xe and 134Xe gases were converted to solid 132XeF2 and 134XeF2, and were used as scattering samples. The xenon isotopes have not been particularly well-studied as elemental targets are gases under ambient conditions, which introduces difficulties into the measurements. Much new information was obtained for these nuclei, including the placement of many new transitions and levels, and measurement of many new level lifetimes, allowing the determination of reduced transition probabilities. This additional information provided important insight into the structure of these two transitional nuclei.

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