VITRIFICATION OF A SURROGATE FOR HIGH-LEVEL WASTES FROM THE SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT (USA) ON A COLD-CRUCIBLE BENCH FACILITY

摘要

Two experiments on the vitrification of a surrogate for the wastes from the Savannah River plant (USA) have been performed on a cold-crucible (inner diameter 216 mm) induction-melting bench facility at the Moscow Scientific and Industrial Association Radon (1.76 MHz, 60 kW). To obtain borosilicate glasses with two compositions containing 45 mass % oxides of the wastes (computed) a slurry with moisture content about 60 mass % and a mixture of reagents as the glass-forming additives gave a mass velocity of the slip 8 kg/h on average, glass output about 2 kg/h, and specific glass product rate about 47 kg/(m~2 ·h). The specific energy consumption was 20 kW·h/kg. It was shown that the mass velocity of the slip can be increased to 18 kg/h. Switching to glass-forming additives consisting of the special borosilicate frit-200 and -320 and lowering the water content in the slurry to 25-30 mass % increases the productivity of the prpcess by 15-35%. The specific glass production rate reaches 100 kg/(m~2 ·h). The glasses produced contained a small quantity of a magnetitic spinel phase.