Almost from the dawn of the nuclear age, mankind has had to face the problem of immobilizing highly radioactive nuclear waste. Borosilicate glasses have shown that they have a unique blend of processing and product characteristics which make them nearly ideal for this application. In the US, the Defence Waste Processing Facility near Aiken, S Carolina, is the free world's largest facility for the immobilisation of high level nuclear waste in borosilicate glass. Although borosilicate glass has proven an excellent choice for this application, fundamental research to identify the structural role boron oxides play in waste glasses as a function of glass composition could pay important dividends. Such work could shed new light on glass durability. Potentially, it could lead to a method to reliably predict phase separation of boron containing glasses.
