ARRANGEMENTS FOR CONTAINING WASTE MATERIAL

摘要

Nuclear reactor waste is immobilised as a synthetic rock structure formed by sintering under high temperature and pressure in a metal canister (5) which is sealed after filling. A thin walled metal canister (5) is located in a cavity (9) in a refractory support element (8) which restrains deformation of the canister and the reactor waste mixed as a minor proportion with material for forming the synthetic rock is introduced into the canister preferably in the form of pourable granules. Compaction rams (2, 3) compress the material and it is heated to form the synthetic rock. The canister (5) is sealed with a lid. The canister (5) is preferably elongated and the heating is preferably by water cooled induction coils (10) arranged in a series of overlapping heating zones in which the sintering takes place in sequence. The apparatus for the method preferably has a tapered bore 9 in the refractory support element (8) into which granular refractory material is packed in an initial step. After the process the canister (5) is ejected and the granules of refractory material collected and recycled by suitable equipment (20 to 24).