Veolia Nuclear Solutions on Friday said it completed a technology demonstration for solidifying liquid radioactive waste bearing reactive metals.
The company demonstrated the GeoMelt In-Container Vitrification process under contract to the Energy Department’s Idaho National Laboratory, home to 1 million or so gallons of sodium-bearing waste. The company carried out the test at a test site in Richland, Wash.
Veolia’s approach “chemically converts the reactive metals to an inert oxide while also immobilizing radionuclides in a vitrified waste form with durability equal to or better than vitrified nuclear fuel reprocessing wastes,” according to the press release.
A follow-up demonstration is in the planning stages.