[en] The first industrial facility of vitrification started at Marcoule, last June. The principle of the continuous nuclear waste vitrification envisaged by France is briefly recalled together with both main functions of this vitrification: waste compaction and radioactivity confinement in time

[en] A synthesis of the current practices and research and development work in the area of alpha-bearing waste and cladding hulls management is presented in 27 papers. After a review of national programmes, general management aspects of radioactive wastes are presented and different techniques are exposed, mainly incineration, volume reduction, conditioning concepts and cladding hulls

[en] Fixing radioactive waste is disclosed in which the waste is collected as a slurry in aqueous media in a metering tank located within the nuclear facilities. Collection of waste is continued from time to time until a sufficient quantity of material to make up a full shipment to a burial ground has been collected. The slurry is then cast in shipping containers for shipment to a burial ground or the like by metering through a mixer into which fixing materials are simultaneously metered at a rate to yield the desired proportions of materials. (U.S.)

[en] It is proposed an improvement in the design of a facility processing radioactive or toxic material in glove boxes. According to the invention the boxes are to be concentrated in groups, as far as similar process steps are carried out in them. The groups are put together in separate vessels connected by air-locks. The pressure in the individual vessels is above the pressure in the glove boxes and below the pressure in the overall building, in order that no contamination is possible. An example is illustrating the design. (UWI) 891 HP

[en] A process is described for the vitrification of wastes containing radioactive substances. A heated bed is created of particles forming glass in a reactor, a gaseous agent is used to fluidise the bed; the waste matter containing radioactive substances in the fluidised bed is sprayed so that the metals and fission products in the waste are calcinated on the particles of the substance forming the bed and the remaining part of the waste is vaporised. The particles forming glass and the calcinated wastes are then removed from the reactor

[en] A grinder for volume reduction of contaminated small containers is described. The design allows remote handling and easy dismanthing for cleaning or blade change

[en] The Cyclone Incinerator at Mound Laboratory is capable of handling various types of combustible radioactive wastes, either by batch or by continuous feed. In batch operation, the burn chamber is a 55-gallon drum which permits the in-situ burning of wastes directly in the storage drum. Off-the-shelf components have been used in the design of this concept, thus minimizing fabrication and maintenance costs. The simplicity of the design permits multiple burning chambers to be attached to a single off-gas handling unit. This unique modularity will permit the adaptation of the Cyclone Incinerator to a wide range of throughput requirements. The incinerator can also be adapted for high-level wastes requiring remote operations

No abstract available

[en] Process for reprocessing magnesium elements, radioactivated, used or recovered as waste in nuclear reactors whereby, after crushing to fine particles, these elements are mixed with a silico-aluminous substance in the presence of a mineral oxidizer then placed in an electric oven and raised to a temperature of 1400 to 1600⁰C to oxidize the magnesium and cause it to enter into the composition of a synthetic slag, the molten mass then being poured into moulds that are stored in containers forming a barrier to radiation

[en] Published in summary form only