Status of microwave process development for RH-TRU (remote-handled transuranic) wastes at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

摘要

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Waste Handling and Packaging Plant is developing a microwave process to reduce and solidify remote-handled transuranic (RH-TRU) liquids and sludges presently stored in large tanks at ORNL. Testing has recently begun on an in-drum microwave process using nonradioactive RH-TRU surrogates. The microwave process development effort has focused on an in-drum process to dry the RH-TRU liquids and sludges in the final storage container and then melt the salt residues to form a solid monolith. A 1/3-scale proprietary microwave applicator was designed, fabricated, and tested to demonstrate the essential features of the microwave design and to provide input into the design of the full-scale applicator. The microwave fields are uniform in one dimension to reduce the formation of hot spots on the microwaved wasteform. The final wasteform meets the waste acceptance criteria for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a federal repository for defense transuranic wastes near Carlsbad, New Mexico. 7 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.