Radioactive Waste Immobilization Using Vitreous Materials for Facilities in a Safe and Resilient Infrastructure Classified by Multivariate Exploratory Analyses

A database of 479 glass formulations used to immobilize radioactive wastes for facilities in a safe and resilient infrastructure was analyzed, searching for underlying statistical patterns and associated glass performance features. The analyzed data cover many oxides, including SiO₂, B2O3, Na2O, Fe2O3, and some fluorides. Borosilicates were the most common glasses (60.1%), while silicates were only 11.9%. In addition to these two families, five radioactive waste vitrification matrices were identified: Boroaluminosilicates, iron phosphates, aluminosilicates, sodium iron phosphates, and boroaluminates, totaling seven glass families. Almost all compositions (97.7%) contained sodium oxide, followed by silica (91.4%), iron (82.7%), boron (73.7%), phosphorus (54.9%), and cesium oxides (26.1%). Multivariate exploratory methods were applied to analyze and classify glass compositions using hierarchical and non-hierarchical (K-means) clusters and principal component analysis. Four main clusters were observed, the largest comprising 417 formulations containing mainly silicates, borosilicates, aluminosilicates, and boroaluminosilicates; two principal components, representing 73.75% of all compositions, emerge from these four clusters derived from a covariance analysis. The principal components and four clusters may be associated with the following glass features in terms of glass compositions: liquidus temperature, glass transition temperature, density, resistivity, microhardness, and viscosity. Some general underlying properties emerged from our classification and are discussed.

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