DC Graphite Arc Melter for vitrification of low-level waste

Technical Report · Tue Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:437510

Desrosiers, A E ^[1]; Wilver, P J ^[2]; Wittle, J K ^[3]

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1. Bartlett Services, Inc., Plymouth, MA (United States)
2. Svedala Industries, Danville, PA (United States)
3. Electro-Pyrolysis, Inc., Wayne, PA (United States)

The volume of mixed waste continues to increase with few options for its permanent disposal other than storage on site. This mixed waste is being generated by not only the Department of Energy at government sites but by the private sector in hospitals and at electrical utility sites. Bartlett Services, Inc. proposes to offer a service to treat these materials to both reduce the volume and stabilize the radionuclides in a vitrified material. This product will be formed in the DC Graphite Arc Melters developed by Electro-Pyrolysis, Inc. and being offered for commercial design, sale and installation by Svedala Industries, Pyro Division. The process is a high temperature procedure which pyrolytically decomposes the organic portion of the waste to form clean hydrogen and carbon monoxide and solid carbon. The inorganic portion, containing the radioactive components, melts to produce a stable glass which is resistant to environmental leaching and will remain stable until the radioactivity has decreased to a safe level. Glasses produced with surrogate materials such as cesium and cerium have been shown to pass the Product Compatibility Test (PCT). The process being proposed for this treatment utilizes a sealed melter system having the capability of melting wastes containing both metallic and inorganic materials. This process, unlike joule heated melters, is capable of operating to temperatures of 1600{degrees}C or higher. Since the system is heated electrically, oxidation is not required to create the heat. Since the system is pyrolytic, relatively small quantities of gas are produced. These gases may have beneficial uses in producing chemicals or may be used as a clean fuel.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Williams (Paul) and Associates, Medina, OH (United States)
• OSTI ID: 437510
• Report Number(s): EPRI-TR--106929; CONF-960783--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
CERAMIC MELTERS
ELECTRIC ARCS
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
VITRIFICATION