Abu Darda, S.; Gabbar, H.A. Study of Atmospheric Plasma-Based Mass Separation System for High-Level Radioactive Waste Treatment. Plasma2023, 6, 592-610.
Abu Darda, S.; Gabbar, H.A. Study of Atmospheric Plasma-Based Mass Separation System for High-Level Radioactive Waste Treatment. Plasma 2023, 6, 592-610.
Abu Darda, S.; Gabbar, H.A. Study of Atmospheric Plasma-Based Mass Separation System for High-Level Radioactive Waste Treatment. Plasma2023, 6, 592-610.
Abu Darda, S.; Gabbar, H.A. Study of Atmospheric Plasma-Based Mass Separation System for High-Level Radioactive Waste Treatment. Plasma 2023, 6, 592-610.
Abstract
Solid spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants has 3.4% fission products (80-160amu), contributing to over 99.8% radioactivity. On the other hand, liquid high-level radioactive waste (HLRW) from spent fuel reprocessing has 98.9% bulk elements (0-60amu) with 0.1% radioactivity. A separation mechanism on the mass categories as groups presents unique opportunities in managing HLRW for the long term with a considerable cost reduction. This paper proposes a thermal plasma-based separation system incorporating atmospheric pressure plasma torches for HLRW mass separation into low-resolution mass groups. Several engineering issues, such as waste preparation, waste injection into the plasma and waste collecting after mass separation, need to be addressed. Using COMSOL Multiphysics simulation, the generic system can be studied using noble gas mass separation and further analyze the mass filter capabilities. This paper provides the history of plasma-based mass separation. Functional modelling of a thermal plasma mass separation system is proposed under atmospheric pressure. Finally, aspects of mass separation simulation using noble gas Argon and Helium inside the plasma mass separation system were studied in COMSOL Multiphysics.
Keywords
Thermal plasma; mass separation; Nuclear waste treatment; High-level radioactive waste treatment; material processing
Subject
Engineering, Energy and Fuel Technology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
