TEM investigation of a ceramic waste form for immobilization of process salts generated during electrometallurgical treatment of spent nuclear fuel.

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) examination is presented of the microstructure of a ceramic waste form developed at Argonne National Lab - West for immobilization of actinides and fission products present in an electrorefiner salt. The material is produced by occluding the salt in zeolite granules, followed by hot isostatic pressing of the occluded zeolite in a mixture with a borosilicate glass. The paper presents results from a cold surrogate ceramic waste form, as well as {sup 239}Pu and {sup 238}Pu loaded samples.