Review of Rare-Earth Phosphate Materials for Nuclear Waste Sequestration Applications.

Several materials have or are currently being investigated for nuclear waste sequestration applications, including crystalline ceramic oxides, glasses, and glass-ceramic composites. Rare-earth phosphates have been investigated extensively for this application owing to the range of structures that the hydrous or anhydrous versions can adopt as well as the fact that naturally occurring rare-earth phosphates have been found to contain U or Th. The purpose of this mini-review is to discuss (generally) the properties that must be considered when identifying nuclear wasteform materials and (more specifically) the structure and properties of rare-earth phosphates with special attention being given to the resistance of these materials to radiation-induced structure damage.