A Veolia affiliate has started operating its new GeoMelt vitrification facility in Andrews County, Texas that will be used to convert certain low-level radioactive wastes into a solid glass form, according to a Tuesday press release.
In June, Veolia Nuclear Solutions Federal Service formally dedicated the GeoMelt facility at the Waste Control Specialists site in West Texas.
It is the second commercial GeoMelt vitrification facility in the United States; the first was also built by Veolia in Richland, Wash., the company said in the press release.
Veolia has already successfully vitrified one full stream of low-level radioactive waste from the Idaho National Laboratory into a glass form at Waste Control Specialists, according to Veolia.
Bob Miklos, Idaho National Laboratory’s director of production facilities and nuclear fuels management, said in the release that the laboratory plans to use the technology more in the future. “Our mission, our strategy is to dispose of our waste off-site,” Miklos said. “That’s our primary preference. We couldn’t do it unless we partnered with industry —with Veolia and Waste Control Specialists.”
Internationally, GeoMelt technology has already been used to treat more than 27,000 tons of radioactive and hazardous waste worldwide, Veolia said in the release.
Unlike the mammoth Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant being built by Bechtel at the Hanford Site, the GeoMelt technology is geared more toward handling small batches of low-level waste, Veolia has said.
In France, Veolia is working together with French electric power company EDF on a “Waste2Glass,” joint venture to treat low level radioactive waste using the GeoMelt equipment.
