Converting mixed waste into durable glass
- GTS Duratek, Columbia, MD (United States)
Radioactive, hazardous and mixed contamination of soils and sediments within the Weapons Complex is widespread and estimated to total billions of cubic meters. The cost to remediate this contamination, as well as the contaminated surface and groundwaters, buildings and facilities has been estimated to be up to $300 billion over the next 30 years and up to $30 billion over the next five years. Progress towards cleaning the Weapons Complex depends upon the development of new remediation technologies. The remediation of contaminated soils and sludges ultimately rests on the immobilization of radioactive and hazardous contaminants into a solid wasteform that is leach resistant to aqueous corrosion and other forms of degradation (such as thermal cycling and biological attack) and is highly durable. In addition, the process to immobilize the contaminants should concentrate the contaminants into the smallest volume to reduce disposal/storage and transportation costs. GTS Duratek and the Vitreous State Laboratory of The Catholic University of America have successfully demonstrated that several different waste streams can be converted into a durable, leach-resistant glass that will also lower waste volumes. In this paper, the authors discuss these successes for soils and sludges from three separate US Department of Energy sites. The sites are: the K-25 facility; the Weldon Spring site; and Fernald, Ohio.
- OSTI ID:
- 124513
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940499--; ISBN 1-56590-014-6
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Development of a combined soil-wash/in-furnace vitrification system for soil remediation at DOE sites. Final report
Laboratory scale vitrification of low-level radioactive nitrate salts and soils from the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory