The incorporation of P, S, Cr, F, Cl, I, Mn, Ti, U, and Bi into simulated nuclear waste glasses: Literature study

Abstract

Waste currently stored on the Hanford Reservation in underground tanks will be into High Level Waste (HLW) and Low Level Waste (LLW). The HLW melter will high-level and transuranic wastes to a vitrified form for disposal in a geological repository. The LLW melter will vitrify the low-level waste which is mainly a sodium solution. Characterization of the tank wastes is still in progress, and the pretreatment processes are still under development Apart from tank-to-tank variations, the feed delivered to the HLW melter will be subject to process control variability which consists of blending and pretreating the waste. The challenge is then to develop glass formulation models which can produce durable and processable glass compositions for all potential vitrification feed compositions and processing conditions. The work under HLW glass formulation is to study and model glass and melt pro functions of glass composition and temperature. The properties of interest include viscosity, electrical conductivity, liquidus temperature, crystallization, immiscibility durability. It is these properties that determine the glass processability and ac waste glass. Apart from composition, some properties, such as viscosity are affected by temperature. The processing temperature may vary from 1050{degrees}C to 1550{degrees}C dependent upon the melter type. The glass will also experience a temperature profile upon cooling. The purpose of this letter report is to assess the expected vitrification feed compositions for critical components with the greatest potential impact on waste loading for double shell tank (DST) and single shell tank (SST) wastes. The basis for critical component selection is identified along with the planned approach for evaluation. The proposed experimental work is a crucial part of model development and verification.