Volatility and entrainment of feed components and product glass characteristics during pilot-scale vitrification of simulated Hanford Site low-level waste

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:469794

Whyatt, G A ^[1]; Shade, J W; Stegen, G E ^[2]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
2. Westinghouse Hanford Co., Richland, WA (United States)

Commercially available melter technologies were tested for application to vitrification of Hanford Site low-level waste (LLW). Testing was conducted at vendor facilities using a non-radioactive LLW stimulant. Technologies tested included four Joule-heated melter types, a carbon electrode melter, a cyclone combustion melter, and a plasma torch-fired melter. A variety of samples were collected during the vendor tests and analyzed to provide data to support evaluation of the technologies. This paper describes the evaluation of melter feed component volatility and entrainment losses and product glass samples produced during the vendor tests. All vendors produced glasses that met minimum leach criteria established for the test glass formulations, although in many cases the waste oxide loading was less than intended. Entrainment was much lower in Joule-heated systems than in the combustion or plasma torch-fired systems. Volatility of alkali metals, halogens, B, Mo, and P were severe for non-Joule-heated systems. While losses of sulfur were significant for all systems, the volatility of other components was greatly reduced for some configurations of Joule-heated melters. Data on approaches to reduce NO{sub x} generation, resulting from high nitrate and nitrite content in the double-shell slurry feed, are also presented.

• OSTI ID: 469794
• Report Number(s): CONF-960804--Vol.1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
CERAMIC MELTERS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
ENTRAINMENT
HANFORD RESERVATION
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
PERFORMANCE TESTING
VITRIFICATION
VOLATILITY