No abstract

Although the PNL information included herein is presented u s i n g the West Valley P l a n t i n New York as the bases, i t i s applicable t o other fuel reprocessing plants. These include the higher capacity A1 1 ied General Nuclear Services, Barnwell p l a n t , and the proposed Exxon p l a n t. crs T h i s document presents information available on the Spray Calciner/In-Can. .. Melter Vitrification process. for preparation of a preliminary safety analysis and t o supply information necessary for cell layout and design of process equipment. mainly t o t h a t equipment required for v i t r i f i c a t i o n , including the HLLW feed system, calciner, me1 t e r , and canister post-treatment. i n less detail are an effluent treatment system, the f r i t feeding system, and other m i nor out-of-cel 1 i terns. This information i s intended t o provide the basis Descriptions are limited Other systems described 3 n SUMMARY Current Federal regulations require t h a t HLLW from a commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing p l a n t be converted t o a dry solid i n a container suitable for custody i n a Federal repository. In-Can Melting process f o r producing such a waste. potential commercial fuel reprocessors and ERDA, i s demonstrating this process f o r commercial application. those of NFS for t h e i r plant a t West Valley, New York, and t o anticipated regulations for waste canister receipt a t a Federal repository. reported directly applies t o other nuclear fuel reprocessing f a c i l i t i e s such as A1 1 ied General Nucl ear Servi ces , Barnwell plant , and the proposed Exxon p l a n t. PNL has developed the Spray Solidification/ PNL, i n cooperation w i t h The bases used i n t h i s document are similar t o The technology A reference NFS flowsheet has been established. This flowsheet combines plant HA Column Wastes, Low-Level Wastes, and various HLLW process recycle streams t o produce a borosi 1 i cate gl ass w i t h these properties : Reference HLW G1 ass Properties Cal cine Content: 33 w t % Density: 3.0 g/cm volume: 3.3 ft3/mu Heat Generation Rate: 560 W/liter Thermal Conductivity: 1 .O W/m-"K @ 2 O O O C Leach Rate: ~1 0 '~ g/cm-day 3 2 After the canister i s f i l l e d and the l i d i s seal welded, the canister l i d weld will be leak checked, visually inspected, and decontaminated prior t o storage o r other operations. c H20

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government. Neither the United States nor the Department of Energy, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that i t s use would not infringe privately owned rights. The views, opinions and conclusions contained in this report are those of the contractor and do not necessariiy represent those of the United States Government or the United States Department of Energy.

1 his repor 1 wds prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government Neil her the United Stares nor the Department of Energy, nor any of their employees, nor any of their contractors. subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty. express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, appararus, producr or process disclosed, or represents that i t s use would nor infringe privately owned rights The views opinions and conclusions contained in this report are those of the rontractor and do not necessarily reprornt those of the United Stales Government or the United States Department ot Energy PACIFIC NORTHWEST LABORATORY operated by B ATTELLE for the UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Under Contract DE-AC06-76RLO 1830

Through the High-Level Waste Immobilization Program, the Pacific Northwest Laboratory is conducting research on the solidification of high-level radioactive waste. this program is to develop waste glass compositions and reliable processes for their manufacture. January through March of 1979. A major goal of This progress report describes the research and development activities for The Nuclear Waste Vitrification Project (NWVP) culminated this quarter in the production of two canisters of fully radioactive waste glass. Liquid waste, made from zirconium-clad U02 power reactor fuel with an average burnup of 25,000 MWd/MT, was converted to glass by the in-can melting process-thus demonstrating the availability of a method for immobilizing the highest-level waste from the nuclear fuel cycle. An intrinsic-gama melt-level detection system was tested during the NWVP demonstrations. The results showed that if a sufficient number of collimators are used the system will track the melt surface with a precision of 1 in. during the filling of cans with waste glass.