Vitrification plant to open at Sellafield
6 Jan 2014
The UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) today said it will develop a waste disposal test facility at Sellafield nuclear plant.
The project, which is a joint venture between the NNL and US wastewater firm Kurion, will see the NNLs central laboratory play host to a full scale, active In-Container Vitrification (ICV) plant modelled on Kurion’s GeoMelt technology.
Designed as a full scale batch processing plant which consists of approximately half a cubic metre melt capacity, the disposal facility would be able to treat up to 50 cubic metres of waste per year - assuming the plant ran two melts per week.
We hope to provide the nuclear industry with a platform which will demonstrate the treatment of a variety of waste streams
Nick Hanigan
Initially, the plant will serve to demonstrate melt capability for a variety of different and mixed radioactive wastes including: low-level wastes (LLW) - such as concrete, soil, sand, Ion exchangers and metal.
“Once proven, we’d intend to move to routing processing of ‘orphan’ LLW material (i.e. material for which a defined treatment or disposal route does not currently exist). Dependant on results and interest from the industry, this may lead to construction of larger plant or several smaller or mobile plants, dependant on customer requirements,” an NNL source told Process Engineering
Vice president of GeoMelt Technologies for Kurion Brett Campbell said: “The GeoMelt plant at Sellafield creates a platform to evaluate the vitrification technology for the variety of wastes at the site and creates a treatment path for small, problematic waste streams that currently have no disposition pathway.”
Similarly, operators hope the ICV plant will serve as a test facility and partnership platform for nuclear waste disposal across Europe.
“The plant creates an opportunity for Kurion’s engineers to collaborate with National Nuclear Laboratory experts on the treatment of nuclear and hazardous waste across Europe,” Campbell added.
The GeoMelt technology employed at the plant will be used to vitrify hazardous solid and bulk waste, whereas its Modular Vitrification System (MVS) can be used to treat liquid wastes.
NNL director of waste management and decommissioning Nick Hanigan said: “Together we hope to provide the nuclear industry with a ready-made platform which will demonstrate the treatment of a variety of waste streams and realise the benefits of thermal waste treatment as rapidly as possible.”
The NNL source added that the ultimate aim is to use any experience gained to progress to an Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) system, which would be installed in a shielded “Hot Cell”.
“This would be of similar size and would demonstrate treatment of ILW waste, before moving to routine processing of orphan ILW streams. Again, this may lead to production of a larger plant in the future,” the source said.
