Joule-Heated Ceramic-Lined Melter to Vitrify Liquid Radioactive Wastes Containing Am241 Generated From MOX Fuel Fabrication in Russia

Joule-Heated Ceramic-Lined Melter to Vitrify Liquid Radioactive Wastes Containing Am241 Generated From MOX Fuel Fabrication in Russia
Author: E. C. Smith
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Release: 2004
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ISBN:

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The governments of the United Stated of America and the Russian Federation (RF) signed an Agreement September 1, 2000 to dispose of weapons plutonium that has been designated as no longer required for defense purposes. The Agreement declares that each country will disposition 34MT of excess weapons grade plutonium from their stockpiles. The preferred disposition technology is the fabrication of mixed oxide (MOx) fuel for use or burning in pressurized water reactors to destroy the plutonium. Implementation of this Agreement will require the conversion of plutonium metal to oxide and the fabrication of MOx fuel within the Russian Federation. The MOx fuel fabrication and metal to oxide conversion processes will generate solid and liquid radioactive wastes containing trace amounts of plutonium, neptunium, americium, and uranium requiring treatment, storage, and disposal. Unique to the Russian MOx fuel fabrication facility's flow-sheet is a liquid waste stream with high concentrations ({approx}1 g/l) of {sup 241}Am and non radioactive silver. The silver is used to dissolve PuO{sub 2} feed materials to the MOx fabrication facility. Technical solutions are needed to treat and solidify this liquid waste stream. Alternative treatment technologies for this liquid waste stream are being evaluated by a Russian engineering team. The technologies being evaluated include borosilicate and phosphate vitrification alternatives. The evaluations are being performed at a conceptual design level of detail under a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) contract with the Russian organization TVEL using DOE NA-26 funding. As part of this contract, the RF team is evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of the US borosilicate glass vitrification technology based on a Duratek melter to solidify this waste stream into a form acceptable for storage and geologic disposal. The composition of the glass formed from treating the waste is dictated by the concentration of silver and americium it contains. Silver is widely used as an additive in glass making. However, its solubility is known to be limited in borosilicate glasses. Further, silver, which is present as a nitrate salt in the waste, can be easily reduced to molten silver in the melting process. Molten silver, if formed, would be difficult to reintroduce into the glass matrix and could pose operating difficulties for the glass melter. This will place a limitation on the waste loading of the melter feed material to prevent the separation of silver from the waste within the melter. If the silver were recovered in the MOx fabrication process, which is currently under consideration, the composition of the glass would likely be limited only by the thermal heat load from the incorporated {sup 241}Am. The resulting mass of glass used to encapsulate the waste could then be reduced by a factor of approximately three. The vitrification process used to treat the waste stream is proposed to center on a joule-heated ceramic lined slurry fed melter. Glass furnaces of this type are used in the United States to treat high-level waste (HLW) at the: Defense Waste Processing Facility, West Valley Demonstration Project, and to process the Hanford tank waste. The waste will initially be blended with glass-forming chemicals, which are primarily sand and boric acid. The resulting slurry is pumped to the melter for conversion to glass. The melter is a ceramic lined metal box that contains a molten glass pool heated by passing electric current through the glass. Molten glass from the melter is poured into canisters to cool and solidify. They are then sealed and decontaminated to form the final waste disposal package. Emissions generated in the melter from the vitrification process are treated by an off-gas system to remove radioactive contamination and destroy nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Experience with a Joule Heated Ceramic Melter While Converting Simulated High-level Waste to Glass

Experience with a Joule Heated Ceramic Melter While Converting Simulated High-level Waste to Glass
Author:
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Release: 1976
Genre:
ISBN:

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Development of a joule-heated ceramic melter, sponsored by the Energy Research and Development Administration, has been progressing for nearly 3 years. In January 1975, a ceramic-lined, direct joule-heated glass melter was started up and operated continuously for nearly 11 months. During this period, process testing was completed both while feeding simulated high-level waste calcine and while feeding simulated high-level liquid waste. While feeding waste calcine and frit, the unit was demonstrated at a production rate in excess of 45 kg of glass/hour, which meets the needs of a reference 5 MTU/day reprocessing plant. When the simulated liquid waste and frit slurry were fed to the system, a 25-liter/hr process rate was demonstrated. This capacity is equivalent to the needs of a 1.5 MTU/day reprocessing plant. Evaluation of the melter after 10.8 months of operation suggests that a melter life in excess of 2 years is likely. The operation of the engineering-scale ceramic melter has been encouraging. The high capacity of the melter with the capability for direct liquid feeding and a long operating life suggests that a joule-heated ceramic melter will play a major role in future waste solidification processes.

Experimental Joule-heated Ceramic Melter for Converting Radioactive Waste to Glass

Experimental Joule-heated Ceramic Melter for Converting Radioactive Waste to Glass
Author:
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Total Pages:
Release: 1978
Genre:
ISBN:

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A small electric melter was developed to implement studies for converting radioactive waste to glass at the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL). The ceramic-lined, joule-heated melter has been in operation for ten months. During this period, simulated, high-level-waste, calcined materials and frit were processed at rates of 2 to 15 g/min. The melt chamber is 7.6-cm wide, 22.9-cm long and 7.6-cm deep. The total power consumption is 3.5 KVA when the glass processing temperature is 1150°C. A similar unit will be in operation in FY-1979 in the SRL high-level cells.

Mathematical Modeling of Radioactive Waste Glass Melter

Mathematical Modeling of Radioactive Waste Glass Melter
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 11
Release: 1990
Genre:
ISBN:

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The radioactive waste glass melter used at Savannah River Site (SRS) is a liquid slurry feed joule-heated ceramic melter. The physical nature of a joule-heated meter is complex and involves interactions between electric, thermal, and flow fields. These interactions take place through strongly temperature-dependent glass properties, natural convection, advection, diffusion, and volumetrically distributed joule heating sources. The cold feed on top of heated glass distabilizes the flow field and develops unsteady asymmetric flow motions underneath. Thus waste glass modeling requires solving a full 3-D, unsteady, momentum, energy, and electric equation with temperature-dependent properties. Simulation of noble metal deposit process requires an additional mass diffusion equation that is coupled to the momentum equation through mass advection term. The objective of this paper is to identify critical issues anticipated in the Defense Waste Process Facility (DWPF) melter operation and address how these issues can be resolved with current state-of-the-art mathematical modeling techniques.

FY-97 Operations of the Pilot-scale Glass Melter to Vitrify Simulated ICPP High Activity Sodium-bearing Waste

FY-97 Operations of the Pilot-scale Glass Melter to Vitrify Simulated ICPP High Activity Sodium-bearing Waste
Author:
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Total Pages: 56
Release: 1997
Genre:
ISBN:

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A 3.5 liter refractory-lined joule-heated glass melter was built to test the applicability of electric melting to vitrify simulated high activity waste (HAW). The HAW streams result from dissolution and separation of Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) calcines and/or radioactive liquid waste. Pilot scale melter operations will establish selection criteria needed to evaluate the application of joule heating to immobilize ICPP high activity waste streams. The melter was fabricated with K-3 refractory walls and Inconel 690 electrodes. It is designed to be continuously operated at 1,150 C with a maximum glass output rate of 10 lbs/hr. The first set of tests were completed using surrogate HAW-sodium bearing waste (SBW). The melter operated for 57 hours and was shut down due to excessive melt temperatures resulting in low glass viscosity (

Experience with Waste Vitrification Systems at Battelle-Northwest

Experience with Waste Vitrification Systems at Battelle-Northwest
Author:
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Total Pages:
Release: 1975
Genre:
ISBN:

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Three types of melters; in-can, continuous metallic, and joule-heated ceramic are being developed on an engineering scale for conversion of simulated high-level radioactive waste to a glass form. Work with each of the three melters has progressed for over a year, and ton quantities of glass have been produced. The operation and performance of these systems are described. (auth).

Vitrification of Hanford Wastes in a Joule-heated Ceramic Melter and Evaluation of Resultant Canisterized Product

Vitrification of Hanford Wastes in a Joule-heated Ceramic Melter and Evaluation of Resultant Canisterized Product
Author:
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Release: 1979
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ISBN:

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Experience gained in the week-long vitrification test and characterization of the glass produced in the run support the following conclusions: The Hanford waste simulated in this test can be readily vitrified in a joule-heated ceramic melter. Physical properties of the molten glass were entirely compatible with melter operation. The average feed rate of 106 kg/h is high enough to make the ceramic melter a feasible piece of equipment for vitrifying Hanford wastes. The glass produced in this trial had good chemical durability, 6(10)−5 g/cm2-d. When one of the canisters was purposely dropped onto a steel pad, the damage was limited to deformation of the steel can in the impact area, cracking of a weld, and fracturing of glass in the immediate vicinity of the impact area. No glass was released from the canister as a result of the drop test. The results of this vitrification test support the technical feasibility of vitrifying Hanford wastes by means of a joule-heated ceramic melter. Surface area for large glass castings is equivalent to the mass median particle diameters between 4.27 cm (1.75 in.) and 8.91 cm (3.51 in.) even when allowed to cool rapidly by standing in ambient air. Large canisters (up to 0.91 m in dia) can be cast without large voids while standing in air if the fill rate is over 100 kg/h. 34 figures, 10 tables.

Nuclear Waste Conditioning

Nuclear Waste Conditioning
Author: France. Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA)
Publisher: Le Moniteur Editions
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2009
Genre: Science
ISBN:

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