VITRIFICATION OF A REPRESENTATIVE SIMULANT OF DWPF SB4-TYPE WASTE IN A CCIM - INDUSTRIAL SCALE DEMONSTRATION ON THE CEA MARCOULE PLATFORM - 10063

The Cold Crucible Induction Melter (CCIM), which is able to operate at high temperatures, offers the potential for significant cost savings in vitrification projects through increased waste loading and throughputs. As part of a strategy to demonstrate and implement processes to accelerate the High-Level Waste (HLW) cleanup mission at Savannah River Site (SRS), DOE-EM awarded two separate phases of an Advanced Remediation Technology (ART) contract to AREVA Federal Services LLC (AFS), to demonstrate the maturity of the CCIM technology, the level of improvement that can be expected when operating this technology at SRS, and the feasibility of deploying the CCIM in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) melter cell. This paper presents the very promising results of an extended duration industrial scale demonstration performed in 2009 on the Marcoule (French Atomic Energy Commission: CEA) large size CCIM platform with a representative SB4-type simulant of DWPF melter feed. The selected waste loading was 46 wt%, limited by nepheline and liquidus considerations. This value is 35% higher than the waste loading achieved at the DWPF with the actual SB4 waste. Over the two weeks of the demonstration, a total of 4,066 L of feed were processed. About 2259 kg of glass were produced, and poured in 32 pouring operations. The 650 mm-diameter CCIM was operated at 1250°C. In these conditions, the maximum throughput was determined to be 75 L/hr of feed, or 40.4 kg/hr of glass product. The glass product was visually homogeneous and well formed, with some spinel crystals. Its composition was very consistent over the run demonstrating the ability of the melter to produce a well controlled wasteform. The operation parameters all indicated that no spinel crystals accumulation liable to hinder operation had occurred during the whole run duration.