Development of the in-can melting process for vitrification of Savannah River Plant waste

Vitrification is the key step in the reference process for immobilization of high-level radioactive waste generated at the Savannah River Plant. For this step, two types of glass melters are being developed. The design reference is a continuous-pour, joule-heated melter. The backup is an in-can melter. When the in-can melter is used, a canister is placed vertically in a large tube furnace and heated to a temperature as high as the canister can safely tolerate (for stainless steel, about 10500C). Waste and glass formers are added and melted together until the canister is filled. The canister of glass is then removed from the furnace. The effects of fin design, frit size, waste composition, reductants, and mixing upon the full-scale in-can melter process are discussed