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WASHINGTON (AFP) - A material that may be capable of safely holding radioactive nuclear waste for thousands of years has been identified by an international team of researchers, according to an article to be published in Science magazine.
Highly radioactive waste, such as spent fuel from nuclear power plants, is currently stored in containers expected to hold them safely for about 100 years. The radioactivity of the material they hold means they are likely to disintegrate after that timespan.
Researchers working in the United States, Great Britain and Japan have discovered that a ceramic material with a structure similar to that of the mineral fluorite has atoms, which are relatively disordered.
The atoms can therefore tolerate the tiny defects caused by radiation by shifting their positions, and a container made from this material may continue to hold the radioactive material safely for thousands of years, the researchers believe.
The lead author of the study was Kurt Sickafus, of the U.S. Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. Imperial College in London and Kyusha University in Fukuoka Japan also took part in the research
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