Development of Plasma Vitrification Technology for Contaminated Soil at the Savannah River Site
- Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
- Mississippi State Univ., MS (United States). Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Lab.
The Mixed Waste Integrated Program (MWIP) of the United States Department of Energy`s Office of Technology Development is developing treatment technologies for a wide variety of materials containing mixed low-level waste, i.e., having low levels of radioactivity along with hazardous constituents. Vitrification is a promising treatment technology for many of these wastes, including contaminated soil such as that found at the Savannah River Site. Proof-of-principle tests were performed to demonstrate the feasibility of both ex-situ and in-situ vitrification of contaminated soil by means of a plasma torch. A mixture of 89 percent as-excavated Savannah River Site sandy clay loam with 11 percent lime addition was tested. Vitrification of a mixture of this feed, in a 10 in. diameter crucible with a non-transferred arc plasma torch at a nominal 160 kW, was successful. The process produced homogeneous glass (albeit with local compositional variations), surrounded by a skull of incompletely reacted feed. Characterization of the resultant product durability using the Product Consistency Test showed elemental leaching well below the Environmental Assessment glass (which is often used as a minimum standard of glass acceptability in high-level waste glass assessment) for both the glass and the skull regions. Future tests should include doping the soil with hazardous constituents to enable further verification of the wasteform integrity via the Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure. In-situ operation was mimicked in the test crucible by segregating the lime additive from the soil within the crucible. Making full use of the available torch maneuvering capabilities (which would likely exceed those of a torch used in-situ) failed to produce a homogeneous melt. Therefore, intimate mechanical mixture of the additive with the soil appears crucial to the success of SRS soil vitrification, and must be included in design considerations for in-situ operation.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Savannah River Co., Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC09-89SR18035
- OSTI ID:
- 10122510
- Report Number(s):
- WSRC-MS-95-0056; CONF-950216-35; ON: DE95060091; TRN: 94T00103
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste management `95,Tucson, AZ (United States),26 Feb - 2 Mar 1995; Other Information: PBD: [1995]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
VITRIFICATION
EVALUATION
SOILS
REMEDIAL ACTION
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MIXTURES
054000
052001
540250
HEALTH AND SAFETY
WASTE PROCESSING
SITE RESOURCE AND USE STUDIES