Treatment of waste by the Molten Salt Oxidation process at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

摘要

The Molten Salt Oxidation (MSO) process has been under development by the Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) to treat hazardous, radioactive, and mixed waste. Testing of the system was done on a number of wastes to demonstrate the technical feasibility of the process. This testing included simulated intermediate level waste (ILW) from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The intermediate level waste stream consisted of a slurry of concentrated aqueous solutions of sodium hydroxide and sodium nitrate, with a small amount of miscellaneous combustible components (PVC, TBP, kerosene, and ion exchange resins). The purpose of these tests was to evaluate the destruction of the organics, evaporation of the water, and conversion of the hazardous salts (hydroxide and nitrate) to non-hazardous sodium carbonate. Results of the tests are discussed and analyzed, and the possibilities of applying the MSO process to different waste streams at ORNL in the future are explored.