A MILESTONE IN VITRIFICATION - THE REPLACEMENT OF A 'HOT METALLIC CRUCIBLE' WITH A 'COLD CRUCIBLE MELTER' IN A HOT CELL AT THE LA HAGUE PLANT, FRANCE

摘要

Vitrification of high-level waste is the internationally recognized way to optimize the conditioned high level waste to be disposed of. AREVA's successful operation of AVM at the Marcoule plant, R7 and T7 at the La Hague Plants demonstrates the capabilities and experience of the Group to deploy innovative high level waste (HLW) processing technologies in industrial facilities, in partnership with R&D (CEA) and engineering (SGN)., CEA and AREVA engineering team have continuously improved the hot metallic crucible melter vitrification technology through operational feedback as well as ongoing research and development. They have led the way in the development and implementation of Cold Crucible Induction Melter technology (CCIM). The cold crucible is a compact water-cooled melter in which the radioactive waste and the glass are molten by direct high frequency induction. This technology can handle with highly corrosive solutions and high operating temperature, which offers, among others advantages: o A great flexibility in matrix compositions, o The increase of the industrial glass production capacity, o Increase of melting temperature, o Allow higher wastes loading, o Extend to a wide and varied waste type. In order to take advantage of CCIM, a new project, called "Vitrification 2010", was launched in 2005 with the objective to put in commercial operation a CCIM in one of the existing active R7 vitrification line in 2010. The main challenge for the project team is to replace the hot metallic crucible melter with the CCIM: o In an existing hot cell which is in operation for 20 years with high level waste solutions, o With respect to the current hot cell's layout (calciner, through-wall for utility for example...). The paper will illustrate why this event is a major milestone in vitrification and how the "Vitrification 2010" project succeeds in record time and without any impact on the La Hague Plant production.