A Gold ion with charge eQ has N = 197 Nucleons, Z = 79 Protons, and (Z-Q) electrons. (Here Q is an integer and e is the charge of a single proton.) The mass is m = au - Qm{sub e} + E{sub b}/c{sup 2} (1) where a = 196.966552 is the relative atomic mass [1, 2] of the neutral Gold atom, u = 931.494013 MeV/c{sup 2} is the unified atomic mass unit [3], and m{sub e}c{sup 2} = .510998902 MeV is the electron mass [3]. E{sub b} is the binding energy of the Q electrons removed from the neutral Gold atom. This amounts to 0.332 MeV for the helium-like gold ion (Q = 77) and 0.517 MeV for the fully stripped ion. For the Au{sup 31+} ion we have E{sub b} = 13.5 keV. These numbers are given in Ref. [4]. The deuteron mass [3] is 1875.612762(75) MeV/c{sup 2}.

The primary objective of this task was to perform a variability study of the high activity waste (HAW) acidic feed to determine the impact of feed variability on the quality of the final grout and on the mixability of the salt solution into the dry powders. The HAW acidic feeds were processed through the neutralization/pH process, targeting a final pH of 12. These fluids were then blended with the dry materials to make the final waste forms. A secondary objective was to determine if elemental substitution for cost prohibitive or toxic elements in the simulant affects the mixing response, thus providing a more economical simulant for use in full scale tests. Though not an objective, the HAW simulant used in the full scale tests was also tested and compared to the results from this task. A statistically designed test matrix was developed based on the maximum molarity inputs used to make the acidic solutions. The maximum molarity inputs were: 7.39 HNO{sub 3}, 0.11618 gallium, 0.5423 silver, and 1.1032 'other' metals based on their NO{sub 3}{sup -} contribution. Substitution of the elements aluminum for gallium and copper for silver was also considered in this test matrix, resulting in a total of …