Operation of a bushing melter system designed for actinide vitrification

The Westinghouse Savannah River Company is developing a melter system to vitrify actinide materials. The melter system will used to vitrify the americium and curium solution which is currently stored in one of the Savannah River Site`s (SRS) processing canyons. This solution is one of the materials designated by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) to be dispositioned as part of the DNFSB recommendation 94-1. The Am/Cm solution contains an extremely large fraction (>2 kilograms of Cm and 10 kilograms of Am) of t he United States`s total inventory of both elements. They have an estimated value on the order of one billion dollars - if they are processed through the DOE Isotope Sales program at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It is therefore deemed highly desirable to transfer the material to Oak Ridge in a form which can allow for recovery of the material. A commercial glass composition has been demonstrated to be compatible with up to 40 weight percent of the Am/Cm solution contents. This glass is also selectively attacked by nitric acid. This allows the actinide to be recovered by common separation processes.