Crystal Chemistry of Immobilization of Tetravalent Ce and Se in Ceramic Matrix of Sodium Zirconium Phosphates

Sodium zirconium phosphate (here after nzp) is a typical host material capable of converting the intermediate level waste resulting from light water reactor (lwr) fuel reprocessing into a single-phase material with good stability, high integrity and long durability. the crystal chemistry of nazr1.9ce0.1p3o12 and nazr1.9se0.1p3o12 phases has been investigated using general structure analysis system programming. the se/cenzp phases crystallize in the space group r-3c and z = 6. powder diffraction data have been subjected to rietveld refinement to arrive at a satisfactory structural convergence of r-factors. the phosphate counter ions stretching and bending vibrations in the infrared (ir) region have been assigned. sem and edax analyses provide evidence of ce and se in the matrix.