Advanced Waste Form and Melter Development for Treatment of Troublesome High-level Wastes

Technical Report · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1159178· OSTI ID:1159178

Marra, James ^[1]; Kim, Dong-Sang ^[2]; Maio, Vincent ^[3]

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1. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
2. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
3. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

A number of waste components in US defense high level radioactive wastes (HLW) have proven challenging for current Joule heated ceramic melter (JHCM) operations and have limited the ability to increase waste loadings beyond already realized levels. Many of these “troublesome" waste species cause crystallization in the glass melt that can negatively impact product quality or have a deleterious effect on melter processing. Recent efforts at US Department of Energy laboratories have focused on understanding crystallization behavior within HLW glass melts and investigating approaches to mitigate the impacts of crystallization so that increases in waste loading can be realized. Advanced glass formulations have been developed to highlight the unique benefits of next-generation melter technologies such as the Cold Crucible Induction Melter (CCIM). Crystal-tolerant HLW glasses have been investigated to allow sparingly soluble components such as chromium to crystallize in the melter but pass out of the melter before accumulating. The Hanford site AZ-101 tank waste composition represents a waste group that is waste loading limited primarily due to high concentrations of Fe₂O₃ (with higher Al₂O₃). Systematic glass formulation development utilizing slightly higher process temperatures and higher tolerance to spinel crystals demonstrated that an increase in waste loading of more than 20% could be achieved for this waste composition, and by extension higher loadings for wastes in the same group.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States); Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL), Aiken, SC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-08SR22470
• OSTI ID: 1159178
• Report Number(s): SRNL--STI-2014-00461
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English