Development of continuous liquid-fed laboratory-scale mini-melter for nuclear waste glass development
A small, continuous liquid-fed mini-melter (LFMM) has been developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) to aid in waste glass feed slurry development. The LFMM offers several advantages over testing in large-scale melters. The LFMM requires little lead time in preparing for a test run, and the labor and material requirements are low. Real-time melting behavior of liquid feed slurries can be investigated, and feed rates can be estimated for larger-scale melters. The glass produced is representative of that produced by a larger-scale melter, as well as representative of the processing operation itself. Glass produced by the LFMM may subsequently be analyzed for metallic and other secondary phase formation. In contrast to larger-scale melters, the LFMM may be easily and inexpensively installed in a hot cell because of its relatively small size and simple configuration, enabling testing of radioactive feeds. A total of six LFMM experimental runs were performed. Feeds were obtained which corresponded to PNL melter runs performed in larger PNL developmental joule-heated research melters. These nonradioactive liquid-fed ceramic melters are known as the High-Bay Ceramic Melter (HBCM), the Experimental Ceramic Melter (ECM), and the Pilot-Scale Ceramic Melter (PSCM). Preliminary results obtained with the limited testing are promising. Feeds processed in the LFMM exhibited behavior closely resembling that observed in the large-scale melters. Feed rate correlations between the LFMM and ECM, HBCM, and PSCM were developed to estimate a range of expected feed rates for the large-scale melters from LFMM data. More developmental work with LFMM testing needs to be completed. Further testing will eliminate bias and establish the LFMM's true correlation to, and representation of, large-scale melters.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 6676095
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-6073; ON: DE87007908; TRN: 87-014311
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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