Possible use of EPDM in radioactive waste disposal: Long term low dose rate and short term high dose rate irradiation in aquatic and atmospheric environment

In this study, changes in the properties of ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) irradiated with different dose rates in ambient atmosphere and aqueous environment were investigated. Irradiations were carried out both with low dose and high dose rate irradiation sources. EPDM samples which were differentiated from each other by peroxide type and 5-ethylidene 2-norbornene (ENB) contents were used. Long term low dose rate irradiations were carried out for the duration of up to 2.5 years (total dose of 1178 kGy) in two different irradiation environments. Dose rates (both high and low), irradiation environments (in aquatic and open to atmosphere), and peroxide types (aliphatic or aromatic) were the parameters studied. Characterization of irradiated EPDM samples were performed by hardness, compression, tensile, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), TGA-FTIR, ATR-FTIR, XRD and SEM tests. It was observed that the irradiation in water environment led to a lower degree of degradation when compared to that of irradiation open to atmosphere for the same irradiation dose. In addition, irradiation environment, peroxide type and dose rate had effects on the extent of change in the properties of EPDM. It was observed that EPDM is relatively radiation resistant and a candidate polymer for usage in radioactive waste management. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.