01 December 2021
France’s EDF and drinking water, squander and electrical power management enterprise Veolia will early upcoming calendar year build a joint enterprise – to be acknowledged as Squander2Glass – to build Veolia’s GeoMelt vitrification know-how. The partners hope to increase the application of the technology further than higher-stage radioactive squander.
GeoMelt glass (Impression: Veolia)
Created in 1980 by the US Section of Energy’s Pacific Northwest Nationwide Laboratory, the GeoMelt method immobilises radioactive squander in a glass matrix to produce a secure and resilient squander form that is straightforward to transportation and store. GeoMelt has presently been made use of to handle 26,000 tonnes of radioactive and dangerous waste, specifically at internet sites which include Hanford in the United states and Sellafield in the United kingdom. The technological know-how was acquired in 2012 by US radioactive waste management expert Kurion, which Veolia acquired in 2016.
Waste2Glass will be primarily based in Limay in the Île-de-France area in north-central France. It will be around a new pilot device that will include the GeoMelt course of action, lately commissioned by Veolia to have out demonstrations and get hold of the certifications necessary for the industrial deployment of the course of action.
“Due to its specialized nature and value, vitrification has right up until now been reserved for very radioactive waste,” EDF and Veolia claimed in a joint statement. “Thanks to the complementary know-how of the two companions, Waste2Glass will be capable to get up the challenge of the industrial deployment of the GeoMelt know-how, which will make it attainable to broaden and simplify the use of the vitrification process for a broader selection of squander varieties.”
In December 2019, EDF and Veolia proven the Graphitech joint enterprise for the technological improvement and engineering experiments demanded in planning for decommissioning nuclear reactors that use graphite technological innovation. The venture will create distant-operated instruments to crack up sophisticated, huge-scale concrete and steel structures, as effectively as applications to extract activated graphite bricks and piles. It will also style and design programs and articulated arms to permit deployment of these equipment.
“Our company and our intent as a planet leader of the ecological transformation is to present modern systems and alternatives for the administration of advanced squander these kinds of as hazardous and radioactive waste,” mentioned Veolia Chairman and CEO Antoine Frérot. “I am delighted that we have taken this additional stage in our collaboration with EDF with the creation of Squander2Glass. It will enable a true improve of scale as a result of the industrialisation of GeoMelt, which will make it doable to handle radioactive squander more safely and securely and extra economically, with a reduction in storage volumes.”
EDF Chairman and CEO Jean Bernard Lévy additional: “Soon after Graphitech, the creation of Squander2Glass illustrates not only the high-quality of the cooperation among our two organizations, but also the EDF Group’s determination to the progress and industrial application of genuinely impressive methods for the procedure of radioactive waste, a crucial challenge for bringing nuclear power into the mainstream of sustainable improvement and aiding to construct a carbon-absolutely free potential.”
Researched and penned by Globe Nuclear News