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Summary

Shenjian Huang, Luiz Pereira, Xuelian Liu — Journal of the American Ceramic Society · ABSTRACT Spinel and platinum‐group‐element (PGE) crystals are commonly present in nuclear waste glass melts at high temperatures and their accumulation at the bottom of the melts can affect high‐temperature processing. However, the high‐temperature electrical behavior of spinel‐bearing nuclear waste melts, and particularly systems containing both spinel and PGE crystals, remains insufficiently understood. In this study, we investigate the electrical conductivity of molten nuclear waste glasses containing RuO 2 crystals, NiFe 2 O 4 spinel crystals, and mixtures of both phases. The results show that RuO 2 crystals significantly increase melt conductivity and can trigger a transition from ionic to electronic conduction, whereas spinel crystals alone produce only a modest increase in conductivity and maintain predominantly ionic conduction. When both crystalline phases coexist, spinel crysta