DECOMMISSIONING | MELTING METALS Mulier explains that a better understanding of the
system and the various parameters may also allowed those parameters to be steered better. He says: “For example, maybe you can take those cobalt 60 radio nuclides and bring them to the surface where you extract it, or maybe by adding additives they come together and sink to the bottom. That’s the research that we have to do and you may have 10, 20, or 30 different nuclides and with different levels of radiation or also the kinds of metals concerned. It could be a combination of certain metals welded together which cannot be treated. It means there are a lot of possibilities that we have to investigate.”
From theory to reality This initial feasibility will be used to validate theoretical approaches and will use thermodynamic simulations to improve the performance of the furnace and to test the practical feasibility of the melting process. “We start with a feasibility study and there’s already been a lot done here and also by those smelters from around the world,” says Mulier, noting that the next phase is the development of a small laboratory furnace: “We will install a tabletop furnace where a few grammes of non-nuclear metals will be melted and will be analysed. We will observe the behaviour again and then once we have this tested and we understand the behaviour, then we go to a hot table furnace model where we will work with nuclear material.” The initial part of that process is being carried out by CRM Group and will be followed with small-scale tests at
SCK CEN using radioisotopes. These initial tests will enable researchers to identify potential optimisations and address any unexpected challenges, including the way in which the furnace operates and the materials processed, as well as the interaction with the radioactive metal itself, before the system becomes fully operational. Mulier emphasises the importance of combining the two skill sets to forward the research programme: “CRM have knowledge on how to melt metals that are non-nuclear while SCK CEN are experts in the nuclear side. We bring those two businesses together and that’s unique bringing those two knowledge pillars together to find a solution for those metals.” Having completed the research on radioactive materials
in the tabletop model the goal is to scale up the design to develop a larger prototype furnace. Again, this will begin operations with non-radioactive materials. Says Mulier: “The next step is a large scale but still a prototype furnace and again in a cold, non-nuclear, way.” So-called hot testing using nuclear materials will follow.
“This is a bigger size furnace roughly five meters up to six meters wide and a height of five meters. That isn’t so big compared to the metal melting industry, in fact it is rather small. Then you have to install air ventilation, filters and so forth you also have to provide the logistics because you are working with nuclear material so that fits in a bigger building,” notes Mulier. The two project partner’s scaled up development of a genuine advanced processing furnace is set to be delivered in 2026. Mulier though is already focused on the outcomes: “The most important goal is to have more metal that can have a second life and we believe that we can go up to 97% or 98% of the metals that we try to melt to give them this second life.”
Going commercial Having established the feasibility at scale the goal is to build a commercial partnership with a company that can build the business while leaving the partners to continue their research programme and deliver further optimisations. “We will facilitate the way towards a third party, an industrial partner who will take the commercial side of this furnace where we still have the right to continue research. That’s the next step, to find this third party,” says Mulier.
Above: The project is about trying to create a circular economy in the nuclear decommissioning arena
38 | April 2024 |
www.neimagazine.com
The Belgian government has already committed €13.5m of funding for the project to develop the proof of concept and to build a furnace, but more will be needed to continue and to expand the innovative research after 2026. Scaling up to a five by five metre unit means attracting a commercial partner: “When it comes to the commercialisation and the industrial scale model, there it’s important that we speak with a third party,” says Mulier. The SMELD project aims to develop a new technology with a global potential to significantly reduce waste volumes. Given the hundreds of reactors worldwide that will need to be decommissioned at some point and the legacy materials housed at sites like Sellafield in the UK, it is clear this kind of innovative engineering R&D is an opportunity to further reduce the ecological impact of nuclear power life cycle while adding thousands of tonnes of metals to the creation of a circular economy. As Mulier concludes: “That is what this project is all about, to create a circular economy in dismantling”. ■
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