Ceramic process and plant design for high-level nuclear waste immobilization
In the last 3 years, significant advances in ceramic technology for high-level nuclear waste solidification have been made. Product quality in terms of leach-resistance, compositional uniformity, structural integrity, and thermal stability promises to be superior to borosilicate glass. This paper addresses the process effectiveness and preliminary designs for glass and ceramic immobilization plants. The reference two-step ceramic process utilizes fluid-bed calcination (FBC) and hot isostatic press (HIP) consolidation. Full-scale demonstration of these well-developed processing steps has been established at DOE and/or commercial facilities for processing radioactive materials. Based on Savannah River-type waste, our model predicts that the capital and operating cost for the solidification of high-level nuclear waste is about the same for the ceramic and glass options. However, when repository costs are included, the ceramic option potentially offers significantly better economics due to its high waste loading and volume reduction. Volume reduction impacts several figures of merit in addition to cost such as system logistics, storage, transportation, and risk. The study concludes that the ceramic product/process has many potential advantages, and rapid deployment of the technology could be realized due to full-scale demonstrations of FBC and HIP technology in radioactive environments. Based on our finding and those of others, the ceramic innovation not only offers a viable backup to the glass reference process but promises to be a viable future option for new high-level nuclear waste management opportunities.
- Research Organization:
- Rockwell International Corp., Canoga Park, CA (USA). Energy Systems Group
- DOE Contract Number:
- AT03-81SF11572
- OSTI ID:
- 5762500
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-830205-33; ON: DE83016080
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste management conference, Tucson, AZ, USA, 27 Feb 1983; Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SOLIDIFICATION
CALCINED WASTES
CAPITALIZED COST
CERAMICS
ECONOMICS
OPERATING COST
COST
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROCESSING
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing