Consolidated waste forms: glass marbles and ceramic pellets

Technical Report · Sat May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5258135· OSTI ID:5258135

Treat, R L; Rusin, J M

Glass marbles and ceramic pellets have been developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory as part of the multibarrier concept for immobilizing high-level radioactive waste. These consolidated waste forms served as substrates for the application of various inert coatings and as ideal-sized particles for encapsulation in protective matrices. Marble and pellet formulations were based on existing defense wastes at Savannah River Plant and proposed commercial wastes. To produce marbles, glass is poured from a melter in a continuous stream into a marble-making device. Marbles were produced at PNL on a vibratory marble machine at rates as high as 60 kg/h. Other marble-making concepts were also investigated. The marble process, including a lead-encapsulation step, was judged as one of the more feasible processes for immobilizing high-level wastes. To produce ceramic pellets, a series of processing steps are required, which include: spray calcining - to dry liquid wastes to a powder; disc pelletizing - to convert waste powders to spherical pellets; sintering - to densify pellets and cause desired crystal formation. These processing steps are quite complex, and thereby render the ceramic pellet process as one of the least feasible processes for immobilizing high-level wastes.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5258135
• Report Number(s): PNL-4146; ON: DE82015521
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
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Erosion
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BULK DENSITY
CERAMICS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DATA
DENSITY
DISSOLUTION
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FABRICATION
GLASS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
IMPACT STRENGTH
INFORMATION
LEACHING
MANAGEMENT
MARBLE
MATERIALS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
METAMORPHIC ROCKS
MICROSTRUCTURE
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUMERICAL DATA
PELLETS
PHASE STUDIES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POROSITY
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
ROCKS
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SINTERING
SOLIDIFICATION
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES