Economic Feasibility of Plasma Filtering Techniques for Nuclear Waste Remediation
Authors: Renaud Gueroult, David T. Hobbs, and Nathaniel J. Fisch
Abstract: The economical viability of nuclear waste cleanup efforts could, in some cases, be put at risk due to the difficulties faced in handling unknown and complex feed stocks. Plasma filtering, which operates on dissociated elements, offers advantages over chemical techniques for the processing of such wastes. In this context, the economic feasibility of plasma mass filtering for nuclear waste pretreatment before ultimate disposal is analyzed. Results indicate similar costs for chemical and plasma solid-waste pretreatment per unit mass of waste, but suggest significant savings potential as a result of a superior waste mass minimization. This performance improvement is observed over a large range of waste chemical compositions, representative of legacy waste's heterogeneity. Although smaller, additional savings arise from the absence of a secondary liquid waste stream, as typically produced by chemical techniques.
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Submitted to: Journal of Hazardous Materials, January 2015
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