Laboratory-scale quartz crucible melter tests for vitrifying a high-MoO3 raffinate waste simulant

This paper details the results from two laboratory-scale (∼1 L) melter experiments where the processability was evaluated for vitrifying a simulated high-MoO3 raffinate waste from reprocessing of used commercial nuclear fuel. The target glass (CSLNTM-C-2.5) contained roughly 18 mass% waste loading (2.5 mass% MoO3). A homogeneous glass product was produced after process optimizations. Following the experiments, condensates present in the experimental apparatus were analyzed and found to be primarily composed of SiO2, Al2O3, Zr-O, rare earth, molybdate, and nitrate phases. The composition of the glassy product resulting from the second melter experiment was very similar to that of the target composition with variations noted for Al, Mo, and Zr.