Electric melting of nuclear waste glasses State of the art

Abstract

Vitrification of high-level liquid radioactive wastes has become the international approach for converting highly radioactive wastes into a durable solid. With the exception of France and the first production facility in England, the technology for converting the liquid wastes into glass is similar to “all-electric” melters used in the commercial glass industry. However, the preferred melter feed is a 25–40 wt.% slurry rather than dry batch. The general criteria and bases for design of these melters are presented with a brief review of the historical development. The primary focus of this paper is to review the current status of the designs of the melters in the United States, West Germany, Japan and England. The primary lessons learned in these countries' development programs will be summarized. The influence of melting problems such as corrosion, crystalline sludge, reboil and metal precipitation on the melter designs is reviewed. Future refinements and potential problems that may influence future designs are identified.