In the hell of Shiva

Shiva is a prototype of a new device dedicated to the processing of B-type radioactive wastes (medium level with long half-life). Shiva aims at reducing the volume of wastes through combustion and at vitrifying the ashes produced in a glass matrix. Both processes occur simultaneously in a unique stainless steel enclosure: 2 plasma torches reduce radioactive wastes to ashes that drop in a bath of fused glass in which radionuclides are trapped, then the glass is poured into metal containers. 3 major technological challenges have been overcome: 1) the design of an enclosure able to support corrosion from fused glass, from combustion gas and from high temperatures generated by the plasma; 2) the optimization of the glass composition and 3) the processing of the gas generated by the combustion process. (A.C.)