Explaining cold melting pot technology

Vitrification is the standard process for processing high-level radioactive wastes and Orano was the pioneer for this technique at the industrial scale. The cold melting pot is an existing industrial technique hat was applied to vitrification, its principle is to use induction heating to heat directly the glass without heating the crucible. The walls of the crucible are cooled by a water flow and a layer of frozen glass protects the intern walls from high temperatures and chemical corrosion. The cold melting pot technique allows vitrification by using a wider range of types of glasses than the fusion melting pot technique and it allows the crucible to have a ten times longer operating life. (A.C.)