Vitrification high level waste

Roderick, J. M., Holland, D. Scales, C. R. 2000. Characterization and radiation resistance of a mixed-alkali borosilicate glass for high level waste vitrification. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings, 608, 721-726. 

Mendel, J. E., Palmer, C. R., and Eschback, E. A., "Preliminary Assessment of Potential Effects of Alternate Fuel Cycles on High-Level Waste Vitrification Processing," Symposium on Waste Management and Fuel Cycles 78," Edited by R.G. Post and M. E. Wacks, Tucson, AZ, March (1978). 

Fig. 21.22. Slurry-fed vitrification furnace converts aqueous high-level waste into a boro-aluminum silicate glass form. (Courtesy USDOE.)...

Bond, W. D., and R. E. Leuze Feasibility Studies of the Partitioning of Commercial High-Level Wastes Generated in Spent Fuel Reprocessing, Report ORNL-5012, 1975. Bonniaud, R. Continuous Vitrification in France Taken to Industrial Plant Scale, Auci Eng. Int. 21 67-69 (Nov. 1976). 

The second significant question concerns the Mayak site where there are problems with high-level waste (HLW) vitrification, ceasing the intermediate-level waste discharge into Karachai Lake, protection of water basins, and waste removal from tanks. 

Applying an EP-500/lp Ceramic Melter to the Vitrification of Liquid High-Level Wastes, Energy, 76 (3) pp. 183-188, 1994. 

The successful operating record and experience gained with AVM allowed the start-up of a commercial-scale, high level waste vitrification plant in France. These similar facilities, R7 and T7, are on line at the La Hague reprocessing plant. R7 was commissioned in 1989 and T7 in 1992. 

The vitrification process at Sellafield provides a proven safe route for the immobilization and storage of high level waste arising from reprocessing operations. 

As a result of these activities, about 900 m- of liquid high level wastes (HLLW) were generated and stored. The main characteristics of these Low Enriched Waste Concentrates (LEWC) and High Enriched Waste Concentrates (HEWC) are summarized in Table 1. The vitrification of these wastes was a major objective of the Waste Management Programme of Eurochemic, to which it was committed in the frame of the transfer of the ownership to the Belgian State. 

Wiese, H. and Demonie, M., Operation of the Pamela high-level waste vitrification facility, Nuclear Engineering and Design 137 (1992) 147-151. 

Over the past 10 years, modifications to the PUREX process have made it possible to more effectively separate neptunium. To effect the efficient separation of Np within the conventional PUREX process, Np is oxidized to VI state by nitrous add and is extracted in the first cycle along with U and Pu into the organic phase. The extracted Np( VI) follows the uranium stream and is later separated during the second purification cycle of uranium. In the RFC, the neptunium is sent to vitrification and disposed of as HLW but in an AFC option, the neptunium can be blended with MOX fuel or fabricated into special targets for later transmutation. The other minor actinides, ameridum and curium cannot be separated by reasonable modifications to the PUREX process. These elements will require the addition of special processing steps to separate them from the PUREX high-level waste stream. 

SOMBRET, C. The Vitrification of High-Level Wastes in France From the Lab to Industrial Plants. BNS/OECD-NEA-Symposium (Brussels, 3./4.06.1993)... 

In 1995, the total cost to remediate 187,000 m of liquid high-level radioactive waste (HEW) at the Hanford site in Richland, Washington, was estimated to be 6,543 billion. Approximately 163 million was allocated to purchase the resin. The costs of the facilities and operations were estimated at 530 million. The remaining 5,850 billion were associated with the vitrification and disposal of the used resin (D19431U, pp. 5, 11). 

The Windscale Vitrification Plant vitrifies high level (highly active) liquid waste arising from reprocessing operations at Sellafield. The plant operates two identical vitrification lines with a current combined throughput of 350 product containers per year. A third line is currently under construction and will commence operation in the year 2000. The key safety function of the plant is to convert mobile material into a solid immobile form which can be more easily managed, stored, and transported. 

Ewest, E. and Wiese, H. (1988), High Level Liquid Waste Vitrification with the Pamela Plant in Belgium, Nuclear Power Performance and Safety lAEA-CN-48/177. 

Remote (standoff) LIBS systems have been built by Applied Photonics Ltd. with a range capability of >100 m for defense departments. They also built a transportable standoff LIBS with a 20 m range to characterize radioactive materials in a hot cell at the Sellafield, UK, high-level nuclear waste vitrification plant by directing the laser beam through the lead-glass window of the cell. LIBS is an excellent tool for remote and in situ detection of uranium oxide fuel located in hard-to-reach... 

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