ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nucl. Eng.
Sec. Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnuen.2025.1693242
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvanced Modeling Techniques in Radioactive Waste DisposalView all articles
Mesoscale Phase-field Modeling of Silver Dissolution in Cast Stone with AgM Granules
Provisionally accepted
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (DOE), Richland, United States
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A mesoscale model is developed to study silver (Ag) dissolution in Cast Stone (CS) matrix containing silver mordenite (AgM) particles. The model captures microstructure-dependent thermodynamic and kinetic properties, including multispecies diffusion, redox reactions, and Ag precipitation. Simulations show that Ag-rich precipitate formation at the AgM/CS interface slows dissolution by reducing chemical potential gradients and diffusivity, while oxidation reactions enhance Ag release by increasing retention around unreacted reagents (e.g., slag, cement). Smaller AgM particles dissolve more rapidly due to shorter diffusion paths. This model offers a mechanistic framework to assess how microstructure and redox chemistry influence Ag retention and can be integrated with geochemical speciation models for multiscale performance evaluation of nuclear waste forms.
Keywords: Silver dissolution, Cast stone, Mesoscale Modeling, Microstructure effects, and nuclear waste forms
Received: 26 Aug 2025; Accepted: 16 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hu, Li and Asmussen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shenyang Hu, shenyang.hu@pnnl.gov
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