History and Advances in German HLLW Vitrification Technology With Joule Heated Liquid Fed Ceramic Melter

Abstract History and current state of the German technology of Liquid Fed Ceramic Melter (LFCM) for High Level Liquid Waste (HLLW) vitrification are described. The development of the technology started at Karlsruhe Research Centre (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT) in 1976. The LFCM technique was first time applied with radioactive waste by the PAMELA plant in Mol/Belgium (1985–1991), followed by the VEK plant (Verglasungseinrichtung Karlsruhe) 2009–2010 at the former German pilot reprocessing plant WAK (Wiederaufarbeitungsanlage Karlsruhe), and was used in the Vitrification Plant China (VPC) in Guangyuan/Sichuan Province (2020–2023). The hot operation of the PAMELA plant had primarily shown that flat-bottomed melter require significant design modifications when noble metals containing HLLW (Ru, Rh, and Pd) has to be processed. Otherwise, these constituents disturb the glass pool heating as well as the glass pouring operation and diminish the throughput capacity of the melter. This and some other experienced problems during the otherwise successful PAMELA operation have been overcome by advanced melter design used for VEK and VPC as well as for the future Chinese Diwopu plant melters.