Experimental study on treatment of simulated radioactive waste by thermal plasma: Temporal evaluation of stable Co and Cs

Highlights: • Thermal plasma treatment considerably reduces the mass and volume of solid radioactive waste. • The effectiveness of this technique may allow waste storage site decommissioning. • The process has high potential for solid radioactive waste treatment. Thermal plasma technology is a process that demonstrates high performance for the processing of different types of waste. This technology can also be applied in the treatment of radioactive wastes, which requires special care. Beyond that, volumetric reduction, inertization, as well as a cheap and efficient process are necessary. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the application of thermal plasma technology for the treatment of solid radioactive waste. For this, stable Co and Cs were used to simulate compactable and non-compactable radioactive waste; about 0.8 g Co and 0.6 g Cs were added in each experimental test. The experimental tests were conducted using plasma of transferred arc electric discharge generated by the graphite electrode inside the process reactor. The behavior and distribution of the radionuclides present in the waste were assessed during the plasma process. The results show that the significant amounts of Co and Cs leave the melt by volatilization and are transferred to the gas phase with a small portion retained in the molten slag. The retention rate of Co in the slag phase is about 0.03% and 0.30% for compactable and non-compactable waste, respectively. On the other hand, Cs is completely transferred to the gas phase when added to the compactable waste. Conversely, when in the non-compactable waste, only 1.4% Cs is retained.