Method of and system for treating mixed radioactive and hazardous wastes
First Claim
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1. A method of reducing the volume of any individual or combination of a) hazardous wastes which are contaminated with radioactive wastes, b) non-hazardous materials which are contaminated with radioactive wastes, c) non-hazardous wastes which are contaminated with hazardous wastes, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) directing the solid, liquid, or gaseous contaminated materials to a molten reducing metal reaction chamber;
(b) applying a reduction metal in molten form so as to contact the contaminated waste materials in the reaction chamber, thereby chemically reducing them to moieties which are nontoxic except by virtue of their radioactivity;
(c) removing at least a portion of unreacted molten metal and reacted waste materials from the reaction chamber so as to allow them to solidify thereby producing a substantially less hazardous final product which is easily and safely disposable in a significantly smaller space than that occupied by the original waste materials; and
(d) showering the hazardous material with the molten metal by means of a shower or curtain of molten metal in the reaction chamber.
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Abstract
There is disclosed an improved method and system for the selective treatment and volume reduction of mixtures of gaseous, liquid and solid contaminated waste materials. The contaminated waste materials include mixtures of hazardous and/or radioactive wastes which react with selected active reducing metals in liquid form, preferably aluminum.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method of reducing the volume of any individual or combination of a) hazardous wastes which are contaminated with radioactive wastes, b) non-hazardous materials which are contaminated with radioactive wastes, c) non-hazardous wastes which are contaminated with hazardous wastes, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) directing the solid, liquid, or gaseous contaminated materials to a molten reducing metal reaction chamber; (b) applying a reduction metal in molten form so as to contact the contaminated waste materials in the reaction chamber, thereby chemically reducing them to moieties which are nontoxic except by virtue of their radioactivity; (c) removing at least a portion of unreacted molten metal and reacted waste materials from the reaction chamber so as to allow them to solidify thereby producing a substantially less hazardous final product which is easily and safely disposable in a significantly smaller space than that occupied by the original waste materials; and (d) showering the hazardous material with the molten metal by means of a shower or curtain of molten metal in the reaction chamber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 4)
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3. A method of reducing the volume of any individual or combination of a) hazardous wastes which are contaminated with radioactive wastes, b) non-hazardous materials which are contaminated with radioactive wastes, c) non-hazardous wastes which are contaminated with hazardous wastes, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) directing the solid, liquid, or gaseous contaminated materials to a molten reducing metal reaction chamber; (b) applying a reduction metal in molten form so as to contact the contaminated waste materials in the reaction chamber, thereby chemically reducing them to moieties which are nontoxic except by virtue of their radioactivity, said step of applying including applying liquid aluminum from a reservoir to contact the gaseous, liquid or solid waste contaminants to effect reduction, and a sub step of recirculating the showered aluminum from the reservoir to the reaction chamber; (c) removing at least a portion of unreacted molten metal and reacted waste materials from the reaction chamber so as to allow them to solidify thereby producing a substantially less hazardous final product which is easily and safely disposable in a significantly smaller space than that occupied by the original waste materials; and (d) showering the hazardous material with the molten metal by means of a shower or curtain of molten metal in the reaction chamber.
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5. A method of chemically reducing waste materials, including mixtures of wastes which are both hazardous and radioactive, or non-hazardous and radioactive, comprising the steps of:
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(a) directing gaseous, or liquid wastes from a first source thereof to an operating chamber; (b) directing solid wastes from a second source thereof to the operating chamber; (c) providing a source of molten aluminum at the operating chamber; (d) contacting the waste materials with the molten aluminum, said contacting the molten aluminum being done in such a manner that the aluminum contacts the waste materials and their reaction products for a sufficiently long time to bring about complete reduction reactions therewith to thereby diminish the volume of the hazardous and radioactive waste materials. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of reducing the volume of liquid, solid, gaseous radioactively contaminated waste materials including radioactive elements, comprising the steps of:
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(a) directing liquid, solid and gaseous radioactive contaminated waste materials to a molten reducing metal reaction chamber; (b) applying a reduction metal in molten form so as to contact the radioactive contaminated solid, liquid or gaseous waste materials in the reaction chamber thereby chemically reducing them, said step of applying including applying liquid aluminum to effect reduction; (c) adjusting the temperature of the molten reducing metal so as to reduce the contaminated radioactive elements, and to vaporize the volatile radioactive elements; (d) removing at least a portion of unreacted molten metal including the radioactive elements and the reaction products of reacted waste materials including the non-volatile radioactive elements as either a slag component or an alloyed component from the reaction chamber so as to allow them to solidify, thereby producing a substantially less hazardous final product which is easily and safely disposable in a significantly smaller space than that occupied by the original wastes; (e) removing contaminated reacted or unreacted gases from the reaction chamber; and (f) trapping the volatile radioactive metals.
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Specification