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Pyrochemical & Salt Distillation Furnaces's
The Project
In support of the US DOE projects at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, and at the Los Alamos National Laboratories, Numet has provided engineering, design, fabrication and testing services for custom processes for the oxidation and distillation of highly radioactive waste salts.
The Solution
Shown above left is a Pyrochemical Electric Furnace. It is operated within a containment glove-box, and is used to stabilize waste salts by fully oxidizing the material by heating the residue in the presence of air. The salt residue is first placed in a crucible. It is then placed in a tantalum and stainless steel backup crucible and heated until the contents are molten. The contents are stirred while molten to promote oxidation. A thermowell mounted thermocouple is lowered into the molten salt to measure the temperature, and an additional thermowell provides a high temperature alarm.
Above right is a Salt Distillation Furnace that is used for processing radioactive salts following the pyrochemical process. It consists of two main chambers connected by a vapor transfer spool. Salt residue is heated under vacuum in an evaporating chamber, and migrates through the vapor transfer spool into a condensing chamber. This distillation process separates and leaves the oxides behind in the evaporating chamber.
In this unit shown above the furnace has an inconel inner shell, and there are water cooling coils to restrict the maximum metal temperature of the exposed surfaces. The stirrer and process monitoring thermowell are designed to be manually raised and lowered. The top of the furnace has an o-ring sealed hinged cover with hold down clamps. This cover is used to fill and empty the furnace inside the glove box. The entire system operates within and forms part of the pressure boundary of a glove box.
Project Responsibility Highlights
- Helium leak testing
- ASME NQA-1 required for all design and supply activities
- Fabrication using inconel 625
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