The Zwilag interim storage plasma plant technology to handle operational waste from nuclear plants
- Zwilag Interim Storage Facility, Wuerenlingen (Switzerland)
The first processing of low level radioactive wastes from Swiss nuclear power plants marks the successful completion of commissioning in March 2004 of a treatment facility for low and intermediate level radioactive wastes, which is operated with the help of plasma technology. The theoretical principles of this metallurgy-derived process technology are based on plasma technology, which has already been used for a considerable period outside of nuclear technology for the production of highly pure metal alloys and for the plasma synthesis of acetylene. The commercial operation of the Plasma Plant owned by Zwischenlager Wuerenlingen AG (ZWILAG) has also enabled this technology to be used successfully for the first time in the nuclear field, especially in compliance with radiation protection aspects. In addition to a brief presentation of the technology used in the plant, the melting process under operating conditions will be explained in more detail. The separation factors attained and volume reductions achieved open interesting perspectives for the further optimisation of the entire process in the future. (author)
- Research Organization:
- American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990 (United States); Technological Institute of the Royal Flemish Society of Engineers (TI-K VIV), Het Ingenieurshuis, Desguinlei 214, 2018 Antwerp (Belgium); Belgian Nuclear Society (BNS) - ASBL-VZW, c/o SCK-CEN, Avenue Hermann Debrouxlaan, 40 - B-1160 Brussels (Belgium)
- OSTI ID:
- 21156400
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICEM'07: 11. International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management, Bruges (Belgium), 2-6 Sep 2007; Other Information: Country of input: France; Proceedings may be ordered from ASME Order Department, 22 Law Drive, P.O. Box 2300, Fairfield, NJ 07007-2300 (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Managing Low-Level Waste at Dounreay - 16269
First Road / River Barge Security Transport of SNF under the New German Transport Security Guidelines - 19102
Related Subjects
ACETYLENE
ALLOYS
COMMISSIONING
COMPLIANCE
INTERMEDIATE-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
MELTING
METALLURGY
METALS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
OPTIMIZATION
PLASMA
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE