Role of lithium in enhancing radiation tolerance under γ-irradiation in lithium borosilicate waste glasses

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Black, Aine G, Edge, Ruth, Scrimshire, Alex, Mohapatra, Manoj, Bingham, Paul A, Brookfield, Adam, Shanmugam, Muralidharan, Leay, Laura, Harrison, Mike T, Blanc, Frederic ORCID: 0000-0001-9171-1454 et al (show 1 more authors) and Patel, Maulik K ORCID: 0000-0002-3214-5752 (2025) Role of lithium in enhancing radiation tolerance under γ-irradiation in lithium borosilicate waste glasses JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS, 615. p. 155959. ISSN 0022-3115, 1873-4820

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Abstract

Lithium-containing borosilicate glasses are used for the safe containment of high-level nuclear waste in the UK. Glasses were fabricated with varying Li<inf>2</inf>O contents and irradiated to a total γ-dose of 80 MGy to probe the relationship between Li<inf>2</inf>O contents and γ-irradiation-induced defects. Semi-quantitative X-band Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) measurements revealed the formation of boron-oxygen hole centres (BOHC), electron-trap centres, Oxy radicals and hole centres (HC<inf>1</inf>) defects after γ-radiation. The results highlight the beneficial impact lithium has on the glass network against the formation of paramagnetic defects by transforming BO<inf>3</inf> sites to [BO<inf>4</inf>]⁻. Experimental evidence from EPR and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy indicated that the primary defects formed in the 4-component and 7-component glasses are BOHCs on bridging oxygens of the BO<inf>3</inf> sites and Oxy radicals linked to silicon atoms, respectively. All glass compositions reached defect saturation around 25 MGy suggesting that the number of components in the glass network or Li<inf>2</inf>O content does not significantly influence saturation dose, however, no change in the environment or connectivity of the boron, sodium or silicon subnetworks was observed by multinuclear NMR.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Borosilicate Glass, Gamma radiation, Nuclear waste, NMR, EPR, Lithium
Divisions:	Faculty of Science & Engineering Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Engineering
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	06 Jun 2025 07:12
Last Modified:	23 May 2026 10:17
DOI:	10.1016/j.jnucmat.2025.155959
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3193108
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