Abstract
A ceramic waste form of a SYNROC type (Ringwood et al., 1979) was synthesized by heating after hot-pressing to examine its constituent phases and distribution of simulated high level waste elements by means of X-ray diffractometry and analytical electron microscopy, respectively. Only three phases, hollandite, BaAl2Ti6O16, perovskite, CaTiO3 and zirconolite, CaZrTi2O7 occurred along with unidentified phase(s) which had a few very low peaks in the X-ray diffractogram. Distribution of elements among the three constituent minerals was examined and the results revealed the following notable features: Mo was found in perovskite instead of forming water-soluble Cs-molybdates, and larger amounts of rare earth elements were accommodated in perovskite than in zirconolite. The results of the distribution of elements were compared with the results by other investigators who adopted different fabrication processes.
