Journal of

GEOsciences

  (Formerly Journal of the Czech Geological Society)

Original Paper

Vojtěch Vlček, Roman Skála, Viktor Goliáš, Jan Drahokoupil, Jakub Čížek, Ladislav Strnad, Jana Ederová

Effect of natural irradiation in fluorites: possible implications for nuclear waste management?

Journal of Geosciences, volume 57 (2012), issue 1, 45 - 52

DOI: http://doi.org/10.3190/jgeosci.110

Samples of naturally irradiated fluorite have been analyzed by means of X-ray powder diffraction analysis (XRPD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The diffraction patterns of all irradiated samples show peak broadening caused by micro-strain, which was evaluated by Williamson-Hall method, and an increase in the unit cell parameter. The DSC analysis showed an exothermic peak at 273 °C corresponding to enthalpy change about 16 kJ.mol^-1. This value is an order of magnitude higher than calculated change due to unit cell volume increase that is only 2 kJ.mol^-1. The LA-ICP-MS did not show any significant substitutions, which might account for observed unit-cell parameter increase. The results have shown that high radiation doses lead to formation of defect clusters.