Comparative behavior of britholites and monazite/brabantite solid solutions during leaching tests: a combined experimental and DFT approach

In the field of the specific immobilization of actinides, several phosphate-based ceramics have already been proposed as suitable candidates. Among them, britholite and monazite/brabantite (now called monazite/cheralite) solid solutions have been considered as serious candidates on the basis of several properties of interest. Although both matrices appear almost similar from a chemical point of view, their chemical behavior during leaching tests appear to be strongly different with normalized dissolution rates of typically (2.1 +/- 0.2) g.m(-2).day(-1) for Th-britholites (10(-1)M HNO(3), theta = 25 degrees C, dynamic conditions) and (2.2 +/- 0.2) 10(-5) g.m(-2).day(-1) for Th-brabantites (10(-1)M HNO(3), theta = 90 degrees C, dynamic conditions). To understand such difference from a crystallographic point of view, comparative leaching tests have been performed using either high or low renewal of the leachate. The results obtained clearly revealed a lower chemical durability of An-britholites compared to that of (Ln, Ca, An)-monazite/brabantite solid solutions. As a confirmation of this point, density functional theory calculations clearly showed some great differences in the cohesive energy of calcium in both crystal structures, which can explain this strong difference in the chemical durability of both materials.