Vitrification of fission product wastes: industrial experience and construction of the new vitrification units at La Hague

The first industrial-scale unit for vitrification of fission product wastes was commissioned at Marcoule in France in 1978. Operating experience has been applied in design and construction of the R7 and T7 units at La Hague for vitrification of fission product solutions from the new UP2-800 and UP3 reprocessing plants, (annual capacity of 1,600 tonnes of LWR spent fuel). After outlining the vitrification process, this paper presents the sustained throughput performances achieved during 9 years operation of the continuous vitrification line at Marcoule, plus information concerning technologies, maintenance, process effluents and safety. It then describes the new R7 and T7 units with their six 25 kg/hour glass production lines. Emphasis is placed on the process-related and technological changes, layout optimizations and main innovations decided to improve operation and achieve economies of scale in extrapolating from the 15 kg/hour line at Marcoule. Storage facility design for vitrified waste containers is briefly presented