Summary of Calcine Disposal Development Using Hot Isostatic Pressing

Abstract

Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, has demonstrated the effectiveness of the hot isostatic press (HIP) process for treatment of hazardous high-level waste known as calcine that is stored at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) at Idaho National Laboratory. HIP trials performed with simulated calcines at Idaho National Laboratory's Materials and Fuels Complex and an Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization facility from 2007 to 2010 produced a dense, monolithic waste form with increased chemical durability and effective (storage) volume reductions of ~10 to ~70% compared to granular calcine forms. In December 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy signed an amended Record of Decision selecting HIP technology as the treatment method for the 4,400 m 3 of granular zirconia and alumina calcine stored at INTEC. Testing showed that HIP treatment reduces the risks associated with radioactive and hazardous constituent release, post-production handling, and long-term (repository) storage of calcines and would result in estimated storage cost savings in the billions of dollars. Battelle Energy Alliance has the ability to complete pilot-scale HIP processing of INTEC calcine, which is the next necessary step in implementing HIP processing as a calcine treatment method.

Process and Equipment Development for Hot Isostatic Pressing Treatability Study

“…The equipment is operated remotely within a shielded hot cell at the Hot Fuels Examination Facility (HFEF) at MFC. Electrorefining waste salts containing fission products (Bateman, Rigg, and Wiest 2002) and simulated calcine waste materials (Begg et al 2005;Bateman 2011) have been successfully treated by HIP processing.…”

Thermal treatment of Cs-exchanged chabazite by hot isostatic pressing to support decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

“…The changes imposed to the workpiece include the conversion into a passively safe solid monolith product, with exclusion of porosity and voidage (with respect to powder and granular materials) [9]. For these reasons, HIPing is currently under consideration as a thermal treatment process for conditioning radioactive wastes ranging from sludges [10,11] and high level wastes [12,13] to portions of the UK Pu stockpile [14][15][16][17]. Typically, the resulting HIPed wasteform will be a ceramic or glass-ceramic matrix, where the waste is an integral component of the host matrix [18,19].…”

“…In the USA, the Department of Energy (DoE) have considered HIPing for conditioning calcined high level wastes generated at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center (INTEC) from spent fuel reprocessing operations. HIPing INTEC calcined wastes is reported to be capable of saving an estimated $2 billion in disposal costs, which is equivalent to a 50% reduction when compared with the baseline immobilisation option of a borosilicate glass matrix (based on analysis reported in 2004) [12]. As such, there is a clear mandate and need to continue underpinning HIP wasteform characterisation and performance for a wide variety of nuclear wastes (including spent ion exchange materials investigated here) to enable/assist waste management decisions by appropriate governmental bodies and waste owners.…”