A. E. Ringwood contributed to using mineral structures as hosts for radioactive waste. His SYNROC work proposed incorporating waste elements within the crystal lattices of a synthetic assemblage of minerals, drawing on the long-term retention of related elements in natural materials.[ref]
Immobilisation of high level nuclear reactor wastes in SYNROC by A. E. Ringwood and others. Abstract: incorporation in mineral lattices and natural analogues
The physical idea is more specific than surrounding waste with an inert container: the waste constituents become part of the host phases. Evaluating the resulting material requires both radiation-damage behaviour and its response to chemical alteration.
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