COLD CRUCIBLE INDUCTION MELTER PROTOTYPE AT THE IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING AND ENVIRONMENTAL LABORATORY

Engineers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), in collaboration with Russian scientists from the Electrotechnical Institute and Khlopin Radium Institute in St. Petersburg, have designed, constructed, and operated an alternative technology for converting highly radioactive waste into glass for final disposal. This technology, a cold crucible induction melter (CCIM), has the potential to significantly simplify and reduce the cost of waste stabilization for some of the most challenging radioactive waste streams within the Department of Energy (DOE) complex, as well as throughout the world. The INEEL CCIM technology is essentially a noncontact melter design, with water-cooled walls, that uses a variable frequency power supply to drive an external induction coil to efficiently heat the target waste material. It includes both liquid and solid feed capabilities. Because the CCIM does not use refractory, and can safely operate at temperatures in excess of 2000 o C, many of the limitations of conventional ceramic-lined electrode-type joule-heated melters (JHMs) are mitigated. This provides significantly improved adaptability and flexibility for processing radioactive waste, while producing a high quality final waste form. Consequently, CCIMs are expected to provide a service life that is much longer than conventional melters, thus reducing capital, maintenance, and decommissioning costs. The INEEL CCIM prototype is a one-of-a-kind system in North America that is part of a testbed, which includes an integrated offgas control and monitoring system that is fully compliant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Hazardous Waste Combustor (HWC) Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) Rule requirements. Accordingly, the INEEL CCIM system can be used to process waste simulants for fully characterizing and understanding the capabilities of the CCIM technology to determine if it is a viable alternative for the next-generation vitrification concepts.