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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Development and Use of the Dual-Mode Plasma Torch

Conference ·
OSTI ID:828449
After several years of development, a commercially available high-temperature treatment system has been developed and installed that treats heterogeneous low-level radioactive waste. High temperature plasma processing, unique torch design and operating features make it feasible to achieve a volume reduced, permanent, high integrity waste form while eliminating the personnel exposure and costs associated with conventional sorting, characterizing and handling. Plasma technology can also be used to treat previous conditioned waste packages that no longer meet the current acceptance criteria for final disposal. Plasma treatment can result, in many cases, in a substantial volume reduction, which lowers the final disposal costs. This paper covers the recently patented dual mode plasma torch design(1), the lessons learned that fostered its development and the advantages it brings to radioactive waste processing. This paper also provides current full scale Plasma Arc Centrifugal Treatment (PACT) project status and how the dual mode torch is being used in the PACT system.
Research Organization:
Retech Systems LLC, 100 Henry Station Road, Ukiah, CA (US)
Sponsoring Organization:
none (US)
OSTI ID:
828449
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English