ANDREWS, Texas - The Veolia Nuclear Solutions - Federal Services (VNSFS) team recently secured a contract to safely manage the disposal of highly reactive sodium shields that were developed more than 50 years ago and posed a longstanding environmental challenge at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge reservation.
Veolia demonstrated the GeoMelt ® technology in late July for leaders from DOE and United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR), the primary contractor responsible for managing legacy radioactive waste materials at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory site in Tennessee.
The Oak Ridge site is one of a handful across the country where radioactive materials were used to develop nuclear weapons and related projects dating back to the middle of the 20th Century. One of those projects was the development of sodium shields, which were meant to serve as a shield against radioactivity. Veolia is taking on the responsibility for safely managing disposal of dozens of the shields, the largest of which is about five feet high and weighs more than 30,000 pounds.
“The Veolia demonstration project represents a crucial step in addressing challenging legacy waste streams from America's nuclear research history, establishing a potential template for handling similar reactive metal waste streams across the DOE complex,” (Source: US Dept. of Energy)
Veolia’s pioneering GeoMelt ® technology uses an advanced vitrification process to convert highly reactive metals into a non-toxic form of glass that can be safely managed for disposal.
Sodium metal presents unique hazards because it is unstable and can be highly reactive when mixed with water. The GeoMelt ® process is unique because it does not use any liquid to support treatment and avoids generating other waste streams during the treatment process. It exposes the radioactive material to extremely high temperatures within the container. After treatment, the vitrified waste form no longer exhibits reactive or ignitable characteristics, and the container is disposed on-site at Waste Control Specialists’ landfill.
The groundbreaking solution for treating legacy radioactive materials was featured in August on DOE’s EnergyCast news program.
Watch the EnergyCast here: