In Japan, Nippon Steel & Sumikin Cement and Osaka University have jointly developed a low-alkaline cement using rice chaff that will enhance the durability of nuclear waste disposal facilities.
The alkaline levels in cement are reduced by mixing silica dioxide with cement. The silica is extracted from rice chaff and it weakens alkaline as well as reacts with calcium hydroxide.
It is said that the development of this cement will help the government in constructing nuclear waste disposal facilities that must remain durable for up to 100,000 years to hinder the leak of radioactive materials.
