IDREAM is a Department of Energy, Office of Science, Energy Frontier Research Center that is providing a scientific foundation for predicting and controlling interfacial reactivity of relevant solids in chemically complex environments that are highly alkaline. In these aqueous environments, water activity is constrained, and ionizing radiation is present. We are determining the chemical and physical phenomena that drive the solubility and chemical reactions under such extreme conditions. This scientific foundation describes system dynamics under conditions that are far-from-equilibrium using advances in models and algorithms. IDREAM is structured around four interactive research goals: 1) understanding molecular speciation in chemically complex, low-water–activity environments and highly concentrated, alkaline aqueous solutions; 2) understanding interfacial structure, composition and meta-stable coatings controlling nucleation, particle growth, and surface reactivity in heterogeneous environments of variable water activity; 3) understanding the role of surface chemistry in these extreme environments on particle-particle interactions, aggregation, and coarsening; 4) understanding the unique effects of radiation on molecular speciation, interfacial reactivity, and particle evolution across spatial and temporal scales. In this presentation, IDREAM contributions to date will be summarized, and the impact of our results on high-level radioactive waste processing efforts will be described.

Interfacial dynamics in radioactive environments and materials (IDREAM): Energy frontier research center focused on accelerating innovation for radioactive waste processing

2019 Fall National Meeting

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