Thermal decomposition study for effective management of low level radioactive combustible solids

Plasma pyrolysis has been proposed as a viable technology for reducing volume of low level combustible radioactive wastes. Thermal analysis (TG-EGA) was done on simulated waste under flowing argon and oxygen atmospheres to determine percentage mass loss and to identify evolved gases before proceeding with plasma-based processing. Subsequently, the wastes were treated in a resistance furnace to measure mass and volume change by simulating pyrolysis conditions. XRD was used to examine the residue obtained from the laboratory experiments. Based on these findings, engineering scale plasma pyrolysis-based incineration was studied. Results and observations are discussed in the present work. (author)