Production of H2 by water radiolysis in cement paste under electron irradiation: A joint experimental and theoretical study
Name
Ulm_Production of H2.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
1.97 MB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
79a7b269ea765644e58227401c8e4710
Author(s)
Le Caër, Sophie
Dezerald, Lucile
Boukari, Khaoula
Lainé, Maxime
Taupin, Sébastien
Kavanagh, Ryan M
Johnston, Conrad SN
Foy, Eddy
Charpentier, Thibault
Krakowiak, Konrad J
Date Issued
2017
Journal
Cement and Concrete Research
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd Long-term confinement of nuclear waste is one of the main challenges faced by the nuclear industry. Fission products such as 90Sr and 137Cs, both β− emitters known to induce serious health hazards, represent the largest fraction of nuclear waste. Cement is a good candidate to store them, provided it can resist the effects of irradiation over time. Here, we have investigated the effects of β− decay on cement by performing electron irradiation experiments on different samples. We show that H2 production in cement, the main effect of water radiolysis, depends strongly on composition and relative humidity. First-principles calculations indicate that the water-rich interlayer regions with Ca2+ ions act as electron traps that promote the formation of H2. They also show that holes localize in water-rich regions in low Ca content samples and are then able to participate in H2 production. This work provides new understanding of radiolysis effects in cements.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
MultiScale Materials Science for Energy and Environment, Joint MIT-CNRS Laboratory
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.CEMCONRES.2017.05.022
