Researchers turn low-level nuclear waste into glass

[Judi Lynn]

David Szondy
2 hours ago

The Cold War left behind significant amounts of low-level nuclear waste, but the future may be a bit cleaner thanks to a team of scientists at the US Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), who have vitrified low-level radioactive waste for the first time in a continuous process. In a laboratory set up, 3 gal (11.4 L) of waste taken from a tank at the decommissioned Hanford Site nuclear production complex in Washington state was turned into a form of durable glass that immobilizes the radioactive and chemical compounds inside.

Nuclear waste is one of the major environmental headaches of our time. Even if every reactor on Earth were to suddenly shut down and none built again, there is still millions of gallons of waste left over from three quarters of a century of production to deal with, along with future waste from research reactors and hospital radiology labs. Part of the problem is finding a place to store such waste long term, but another is developing a process to make it chemically inert and unable to interact with the environment.

There are a number of ways to treat nuclear waste, and one of the more promising is vitrification. That is, mixing filtered waste with glass-forming materials, then heating it in a furnace to create borosilicate glass, which remains stable for thousands of years. Developing this method has usually concentrated on high-level nuclear waste like spent fuel rods, but there's a hundred times more low-level waste. That is, waste materials that have been contaminated by radioactive elements or have been exposed to neutron radiation. These can include decayed medical isotopes, contaminated clothing, laboratory animal carcasses, and a lot of low-activity reactor residue in liquid form.

More:
https://newatlas.com/low-level-nuclear-waste-glass/54644/

[RainCaster]

1. I remember getting marbles as samples during a tour

And that was back in the 70s. When is that shit going to be real?

[Salviati]

3. I think the big news here is not the vitrification itself...

... but the fact that they can do it in a continuous process. Batch processing really doesn't scale well to dealing well with industrial levels of material, so if they have a way to do it continuously, then that's big news.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Great article.

Wonder if the author just copied ex Governor Rose's methods. Believe she was a Nuke Scientist at Handford before running for Governor. Do remember attending a Conference in College in 1960 or 1961. She showed how her method change Hot waste to a Amber colored Glass like product that was totally non Radioactive and could be buried with out harm to anyone.