Experimental Study on Simulated Radioactive Wastes Vitrification with Arc Plasma

To evaluate the treatment effect of inorganic waste with plasma system, thermal plasma generated by a plasma torch was adopted to treatment the simulated radioactive waste, the simulated incinerator ash. The electrical and thermal characteristics of the plasma torch were studied. The temperature distribution of plasma jet was examined via numerical simulation. Vitrified waste form was obtained by cooling the molten. Several analyses were carried out for the waste form. And the results show that the solidified waste appears glassy, with the compressive strength much more than 7 MPa, which is the limited value for cemented waste form. Based on the composition of the vitrified waste form, it can be concluded that its leaching resistance performance should be fairly good.