This Symposium will Enclose Two Major Topics:

1) Improvement of Nuclear Waste (NW) Glasses (Borosilicate, Phosphate, etc.) and Glass-ceramics (GC) Long-term Durability (LTD) at the Geological Repository (GR), through Understanding and Predicting their Dissolution Kinetics, including Identifying the Rate-limiting Step of their Aqueous Corrosion as well as the appropriate Mechanical Properties MP such as Toughness, Strength, etc., to their LTD, and the Parameters that Affect them, as they are arising from the Composition, Processing and Structure and are relevant to their Corrosion Thermodynamics and Kinetics, as well as their achieved MP. There are under consideration Two Possible Systems for practical Glass and GC utilization: NW Glasses (NWG) poured as a Melt in Steel Canisters or solely NW Canisters made Entirely from Glass or GC. Whenever possible, it is invited a Correlation: Processing Parameters-Structure-Properties (PSP) for Properties such as Corrosion Kinetics, Solubility of Fission Products, MP as Toughness, Strength, etc., and other Properties relevant to the Achieved Performance of the NW Storage Materials.

2) Studies Addressing the Understanding of the Mechanism of Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) of Stainless-steel (SS) Canisters used for Temporary Storage of NW at the Ground Level, and Means to Repair and Mitigate their SCC. Investigations on Long-term (LT) Corrosion Resistance of Selected SS and other Corrosion Resistant Alloys’ (CRA) for Canisters to host Glasses that Immobilize NW, for LT storage, deep underground, at the GR, is of particular interest. Establishing PSP relationships are sought for.

Modeling by Simulations and Machine Learning (ML), as well as Physics-informed ML, Predict the Material(s) Properties, Design NWG and/or NWGC and CRA for Canisters to Store Materials that Immobilize NW (MINW), and Experimental Work to further Investigate Details of the Corrosion Process, as well as Details of the Structure of MINW, Evaluate relevant MP of the NWG and NWGC Storage Canisters, and Establish the Structure-Properties Relationships are Expected in Both Sections.

Developments in the Characterization Techniques of the NWSM Microstructure and Atomic Structure and their Changes During the Corrosion Process, such as Neutron Diffraction, High-Energy X-Ray Diffraction, Extended X-Ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Raman Spectroscopy and Electron
Microscopy, and ML for Image/Microstructure Analysis of Oxide Glasses are Looked for.