Preliminary Study of Cesium Immobilization in a Geopolymer Matrix

Geopolymers are modern synthetic materials that have many beneficial characteristics, e.g. excellent mechanical properties, fire- and heat-resistance, minimal shrinkage can be molded into shape. Given their aforementioned geopolymers could applicable as conditioning materials, to handle hazardous waste radioactive materials. However, long-term applicability needs investigated.The aim of this study is investigate the mobility Cs-137 radionuclides in embedding Different geopolymeric matrices - namely kaolinite, bentonite, zeolites red mud were tested. The leach test was performed according ASTM C1308-08(2017) standard activity concentration isotopes measured by gamma spectrometry using a high-purity germanium (HPGe) semiconductor detector. According our preliminary results, resulted most significant immobilization effect those which cement, fly ash 8M NaOH used, releasing approximately 10% cesium.